Where Others Run
by Nikki the Spy
Summary: Alex was put in a compromising situation two years ago, fifteen years after Jack's death. Now he's back saving the world and protecting his family but this time he has help from old enemies and old friends. Sequel to Where Others Fail.
1. Alex Rider

**AN: Well, don't kill me. I've had a lot on my plate and...you know what? No. No excuses. I suck. You could decide not to continue reading or you could decide to keep dealing with me and my problems. Either way it's your choice. That being said, if you have yet to read Where Others Fail then this story probably won't make any sense. Go back, read it, and then read this one. You'll be glad later. For those of you who have already read Where Others Fail, Where Others Run picks up right where Where Others Fail left off. Hope you enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER: (cause I didn't do them last time) I don't own Alex Rider because slavery is illegal in the US. However, if slavery wasn't illegal then I would probably own him because I'm awesome like that. Just saying.**

**Alex POV**

Alex followed Jane down the hallway full of cells. The last cell on the left Alex knew would lead to Smithers' room but instead of turning left Jane opened the cell on the right. Alex arched an eyebrow. "You lock up your leaders?"

"No, we keep them hidden in unusual places." Miss Doe said. "Would you have looked here?"

Alex had to admit he would not have.

The cell wasn't actually a cell but a hallway. A very long hallway. Together they walked down the hallway in silence. At the very end of the hallway there was a solid oak door with a small window, much like an office door. Jane opened the door and motioned for him to go inside. "He's right here."

"Good. Now leave." Alex walked inside but the office chair had a high back hiding the identity of the person. Jane left without another word and Alex and the other person in the room sat in silence. Impatient, Alex said. "Well?"

Suddenly a hand reached out from behind the chair and reached into a candy bowl. "Peppermint Alex?"

Alex's heart sunk. "No. It can't be."

"It's been awhile." Mrs. Jones said as she turned to face him. "I hear you have a family now."

"You...you threatened them." Alex choked out the words. "You threatened my family."

"Alex, listen-" Mrs. Jones started.

Alex cut her off. "No, Mrs. Jones, you listen to me. I lost my father, my mother, my uncle, my housekeeper, my godfather, and a year of my life to you...but that wasn't enough? You had to threaten to take away my wife and child too?"

"Alex I-"

"We had an agreement between MI6 and me. We agreed I was done. We agreed that I could walk away from with the Pleasures and never look back." Alex said. "How dare you drag me back into this life!"

"Alex, don't you-"

Alex slammed a fist on Mrs. Jones' desk. "I put them in danger, damn it! I got married and had a child and started a business because I was crazy enough to believe that you would hold up your end of the bargain. I would never have started a life if I'd known you'd use them against me."

Mrs. Jones hesitated to make sure Alex was done and then said, "First of all, Alex, you are hardly unused to this sort of arrangement-"

Alex's jaw dropped. "This arrangement? This is not the arrangement I'd worked with before. Last time it was boarding schools and deportation, not death!"

Mrs. Jones frowned. "You're aren't fifteen anymore. The stakes had to be raised for the same effect."

"I. Was. Done." Alex said slowly. "What part of that don't you get?"

"Alex, there are two ways to leave active duty in this business." Mrs. Jones said. "Death on a mission or demotation to sleeper cell."

"So?" Alex asked.

"You say you left the business but here you are alive and well. If you did not leave the business via a casket..." Mrs. Jones trailed off.

"You just took me off of active duty." Alex finished. "You left open the ability to call me back whenever you wanted."

"That was not the intention when I put you down as a sleeper cell." Mrs. Jones said. "I never had any plans of calling you back in."

"But you did anyway." Alex said.

"I put you there so that we could still be there for you." Mrs. Jones snapped. "If I'd written you off as dead or just cut you off completely MI6 would never come to help you...or your family. If, god forbid, you ever died we would be there to help financially support your family and protect them. It also prevented many people from attacking you when they thought you were weak."

"You think you did me a favor?" Alex asked.

"I _know_ I did you a favor." Mrs. Jones said.

"Fine. Thank you. Now, if you'll excuse me my family and I will be leaving to go back to our normal lives." Alex said. He stood up to leave.

"Alex wait!" Mrs. Jones said. He turned around. "It wasn't my idea to blackmail you into this job."

"I don't care whose idea it was I just-" Alex was cut off.

"It was the Board's decision. They also decided to keep you on active duty." Mrs. Jones said quietly. "I'm sorry."

Alex tensed. "You're putting me back on active duty?"

Mrs. Jones sighed. "You don't understand, Alex, a lot of things have changed in fifteen years. We still have the Head and the Deputy but we have the Board too. Now they're all involved in the decision making."

"And collectively this group of people all decided that I needed to be on active duty?" Alex asked.

"It was a unanimous vote. The collective idea was that the world was safer with you as a spy than as a diving instructor." Mrs. Jones said.

Alex glared. "I'm glad you pulled me out of my democratic county so you could force me into the job you wanted."

"I said I was sorry." Mrs. Jones said.

"Sorry doesn't stop them from sending me on another mission. Sorry doesn't protect my family from facing the consequences if _I_ fail. Sorry doesn't do shit Mrs. Jones and I'm tired of listening to you tell me how sorry you are." Alex said. He stormed out of the room as best he could with handcuffed wrists leaving a slightly regretful Mrs. Jones at her desk.

**Eve POV...Two years later**

"I don't understand why you decided to stop homeschooling him." Alex said.

Eve threw her hands in the air. "Because he needs friends, I need a real job, and besides we're going to be in England for the rest of our lives. Might as well get used to it."

Alex sighed. "Well, what does that have to do with meeting James' teacher?"

"It's pretty normal for the parents of a student to meet the student's teacher and I will have some normalacy in life!" Eve said.

Alex couldn't deny the love of his life that. "Fine, but what kind of teacher sets up a meeting in the middle of a school day?"

"All the kids are out of school today. The teachers are meeting with the current parents and James' teacher was kind enough to let us sit on the said meeting." Eve said.

Eve directed him to turn left ahead. "This place feels awful familiar. What did you say the school was called again?"

"I didn't." Eve said. Alex pulled ahead of some trees and a great building loomed ahead. "It's called Brookland Comprhensive."

**Alex POV**

To Alex, his life was just one big ironic joke that tended to slap him in the face. This was one of those moments when he wondered if karma existed and if so, what had he done in a past life to deserve this? Eve and him got their passes from the secretary and left in search of Mrs. Cole's room. Now out of earshot of the secretary Eve asked, 'What's wrong with Brookland Comprehensive?"

"Nothing." Alex said. "This is the school I used to go to when I lived in England."

"Wow, what are the chances?" Eve shook her head. "Does anybody know about, you know?"

"None of the teachers did and the one friend I had that did...I don't know what happened to him after I left." Alex said. "It shouldn't be a problem. Probably everyone has forgotten me."

They walked into the room but the teacher was already in the middle of her meeting. She turned her head to see who was at the door. "Oh, can I help you?"

Eve walked forward and shook hands with the friendly teacher. "Yes, my name is Eve. We talked on the phone."

"Oh yes, Eve!" The teacher turned her head to Alex. "And who might you be?"

"I'm James' father, Alex Rider."

There were several sharp intakes of breath and then complete and utter silence. You could have heard a feather hit the floor. Alex scanned the faces of some of the parents and spotted a few people that might have been in his class fifteen years ago. They wore shocked expressions complete with dropped jaw and wide eyes. Even the teacher, who had obviously not recognized the Rider name for what it was when Eve used it on the phone, looked horrified at having _Alex Rider_ in her classroom. Alex shifted uncomfortably under the weight of their gazes before looking pleadingly at Eve for help. She cleared her throat. "As I was saying, my husband and I are planning on putting our son James in Brookland Comprehensive. We knew he'd be in your class so-"

"Hopefully he shows up more often than you Alex." A man from the back staggered his way to the front. Alex tried to place his face and came up with Benjamin from the soccer team. "Do you remember Alex? You were, like, never at school. Never!'

A woman he didn't recognize at all came up and tried to pull him back into the group but Benjamin was having none of that. He shook her off and staggered closer to Alex. "We, like, all thought you were dead or something from those drugs and gangs."

Alex could smell the beer on Benjamin's breath from five feet away, and this guy had the audacity to accuse him of being a drug user? Alex ground his teeth together. "I was never in a gang and I never did drugs. I was sick, that's why I wasn't in school."

Benjamin laughed. "Yeah right man. We all saw the bruises and the injuries from your little gang fights. We weren't stupid."

Alex would beg to differ. "Look I don't want a problem Benjamin, I just want to put my kid in school."

But Benjamin just continued like Alex had never said a word. "And then one day, BAM! You were gone from school without a single word. No notes or doctor's excuses or anything. Just one day you're there and the next you're not. Your house was empty, and poor Tom. He never knew what happened to y-"

Benjamin never got to finish because right then he got a powerful right hook to the jaw that spun him around before knocking him to the floor. Alex looked at Eve amazed. "Remind me not to piss you off."

Eve put her hand on Alex's cheek to comfort him. They looked into each other's eyes for a moment and then Eve turned away. "Mrs. Cole, I think it's best if I set up a more private meeting to discuss my son's placement in your class. Have a nice day."

Alex took Eve's hand and they walked out together.

**James POV**

"Mom?" James asked. "Do you know anything about poisonous plants?"

"No but your Dad will." Eve said. She was at the stove making some wonderful smelling pasta.

"Dad! I need your help!" James shouted. There was a moment of silene and then Alex enetered the room gun drawn. Eve shook her head. James laughed and held up his homework. "You can put your gun away Dad, my homework surrenders."

Alex scowled. "You two have really got to stop doing that."

"I need some help with these questions and drawings." James said.

"What class?" Alex asked.

"Science." James replied.

Alex grimaced. "I missed a lot of my science classes. I'm probably not the best person to ask. Now if it had been foreign languages or geography or computers..."

James sighed. "Mom said you would know something."

Alex looked at Eve curiously. "Why?"

Eve didn't look up from the sauce as she said, "He's studying poisonous plants."

Alex winced. "Yeah, I can help you with that."

He sat down at the dining room table and took a look at the paper. The phone rang. Eve stirred the pot. "Don't everybody run at the same time. I'll get it."

Alex fixed a picture of one of the plants. "It should have six leaves and not five."

"Alex! Can you come in here real quick? The caller wants to talk to you." Eve yelled from the living room.

Alex ruffled James' hair and got up. "I'll be right back Squirt."

After a pause James tip-toed after him into the hallway outside the livingroom. Eve had her hand over the mouthpiece of the phone. "It's the bank Alex."

Alex's hands curled into fists. "I'm sorry Eve."

Eve nodded and looked down trying to hide her wet eyes. "It's just, we didn't hear anything for two whole years. I started to hope..." She trailed off unable to finish.

"We'll get through this." Alex took her into his arms.

Eve wiped the tears off her cheeks. "You come back in one piece, okay?"

Alex nodded. "I love you."

"I love you more." Eve said.

Alex took the phone and Eve started back to the kitchen. When she got there James was already at the table hard at work on his homework.

**Alex POV**

Maybe he had been foolish to believe that he would never have to walk into this building again. He of all people should know that MI6 had never been real good at letting go. Once they got their claws into something they refused to release it. Alex tried to force his body to relax but found the action impossible. He had too much on his mind. He hated having to jump whenever MI6 called, he hated that he was being dragged back into a dangerous world he had no real place being in, and he hated that his family was being dragged in with him. The spy life wasn't the place for a family. It was a place for people with nothing to lose. Weaknesses were exploited in this world and Alex's choices had put him in the position where MI6 could use his weaknesses to put him on a leash to be released only to do their bidding. That's how Alex felt, like a guard dog on a leash.

Alex walked up to the woman at the ounter with his hands in his pockets. It was a different woman than the one who'd used to be there. Alex gave her an easy-going smile and got one in return. "I have an appointment with Mrs. Jones."

The woman's eyebrows shot up. "Mrs. Jones?" She lowered her voice. "You're one of _them_?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." Alex said.

The woman pushed a couple buttons on the computer. "Alright. Go on up."

Alex's gaze followed the direction she was pointing until it stopped at an elevator. "Thanks."

Alex got in the elevator and without him pushing any buttons the doors closed and the elevator began to rise. When the doors finally opened and Alex stepped out he had to do a double-take. The layout had changed so that he was now in a waiting room. There were two other men and one woman sitting in the waiting room already as well as a man at a desk who was probably a secretary of sorts. "I have an appointment with Mrs. Jones."

"First name?"

"Alex."

"Last name?"

"Rider." Alex said. The man's jaw dropped. He stared at Alex for several minutes. "Take a picture buddy, it'll last longer."

The man's mouth snapped shut. "Sorry. I mean, we've all heard of Alex Rider but I figured you were just a legend like the Yeti and the Loch Ness Monster. The guys at SAS told us about their version of Alex Rider, some kid named Cub, but no one actually believed in a teenage spy."

"Well," Alex scowled. "The stories were true. Now about my appointment with Mrs. Jones?"

"Yeah, sure, right away." He picked up his phone. "Mrs. Jones? Alex Rider is here to see you. Just go in through those doors. It's the last door at the end."

**AN: Well, like I said before. I'm sorry. Please don't forget to review on the way out. Ciao (till Sunday at the very latest I promise)**


	2. Old Friends

**AN: So, not a _huge_ response to the first chapter but I guess I kind of derserved that. In good faith I'll post the second chapter now with high hopes that will show you I'm going to be slightly consistent. A huge thank you to Holly-Batali my new Beta. You are about to be the poor person who deals with my crazy thought process. I hope you don't learn to regret accepting. :D**

**Thank Yous:**

**Larka the White Wolf: I assumed spaces in your name but if there aren't any just tell me off. I am enormously thrilled that you are interested in this series. It's good to here that it's bringing new people in.**

**2whitie: I know that lots of writers have this problem but I still feel guilty. Thank you for following me even after my ridiculous absence. **

** Getsumen Kage no Mai: Don't worry, I'll try to make it as fast as possible but I won't sacrifice quality for quanitity. Glad you're enjoying it.**

**Alex POV**

When Blunt had been in this office it had seemed lifeless and abandoned. Mrs. Jones had not done much more with the office but there was a potted plant which meant she was at least making an effort. Mrs. Jones motioned to a chair. "Have a seat."

Alex sat and waited for Mrs. Jones to speak. "Thank you for coming in Alex."

"I didn't have much of a choice." Alex retorted.

Mrs. Jones sighed. "No, I don't supposed you did. I'm sure you've gathered that we need you for a mission." Alex grunted but made no other move to reply. Mrs. Jones continued. "First we need you to provide backup for one of our agents."

"You guys have started sending backup?" Alex questioned, surprised.

"We've always sent backup to our agents." Mrs. Jones said; Alex snorted. "You were a special case."

"Why can't you send someone else?" Alex asked.

Mrs. Jones picked up a pen and twirled it through her fingers. "Think of it as a warm-up to get you back into this world."

"What's this agent's name?" Alex asked.

"He'll disclose that to you when you retreive him." Mrs. Jones said.

Alex thought that was a little wierd, but he was already pushed to his emotional limit. Why bother? "I guess I should get going."

"They'll supply you with a car downstairs. Take it over to the shipping port in Vanderbrute and wait for the agent." Mrs. Jones said. "Bring him back here safe and sound and we'll set you up for your new mission."

"You're not going to tell me about it yet?" Alex said.

Mrs. Jones set the pen down. "No, Alex, I'm not. As soon as you come back we'll talk."

Alex shrugged. "Fine." He left.

**Jones POV**

Alex walked out without another word. He didn't argue, didn't fight, didn't threaten or pout. He shrugged, accepted, and left. Mrs. Jones unwrapped a peppermint and popped it into her mouth. Alex was all grown up. He was a thirty-two year old man with a family. He had experience and wisdom that he'd never had before. He was stronger and sharper and better...but there was a part of him that was still fifteen year old Alex. A young boy who didn't want to be here and would rebel the first chance he got. Of course, no matter how much of the old Alex was in the new Alex they were two very different people. Old Alex would have thrown a fit but new Alex was more concerned about his family. Mrs. Jones tried to ignore the small sense of joy she felt at having a much better grip on Alex this time around. It was a very Blunt kind of sentiment; Mrs. Jones shuddered at the thought of how Blunt would've exploited Alex's current redheaded weakness. Mrs. Jones vowed not to let what happened before happen again. Mrs. Jones picked up her phone and dialed a number she didn't call personally very often. They answered on the third ring. Mrs. Jones cleared her throat. "I need a favor."

**James POV**

"Are you really Alex Rider's son?" James looked up to see a fifth grader looming over his lunch. The kid was big and bulky and exactly the way bullying fifth graders were portrayed in fiction. It was almost cliche. "Are you?"

"Yeah, so?" James asked, expecting a fight.

Instead the big kid grinned and sat down across from him. "That's really cool. I heard a whole bunch of stories about the legendary Alex Rider."

"Okay." James said.

"Like there were a whole bunch of gang stories and drug stories." The big kid said. "But those are complete bull."

James looked up. "You don't believe those stories."

"Of course not. Alex Rider, your dad I mean, he was like a really good student. Don't get me wrong, he wasn't a genius or anything but he was a good kid." This kid said. "So this kid is a black belt in karate, travelled with his uncle, and lived happily with his housekeeper for several years. His uncle dies and this strong, smart kid just breaks down and joins a gang? Not likely. On top of all that, of course, is the fact that when he was there he worked hard. He didn't skip for nothing and then fool around when he was there."

James arched an eyebrow. "Pretty solid arguement."

"Exactly." The kid said. "Now, keep following me. His uncle travelled for 'banking' and was never home after your Dad's parents died in a mysterious plane crash. His uncle dies in a mysterious car crash and bang the whole thing starts."

James nodded. "Okay."

"So Alex is just suddenly gone from school around the same time that fancy computer was supposed to come out. Sometime later the Prime Minister gets shot at and the government refuses to release the shooter's identity. BAM! Next day Alex is back at school a little beat up and trying to catch up on the two to three weeks he was absent." The kid said.

"You think there's a connection?" James asked, knowing full well there was a connection.

"It could have just been a coincedence but the timing is pretty interesting. So there's a couple of absences after that but then we get to Damien Cray who's about to sell his new video game. Damien holds this big party and who of all people shows up but your dad! He actually gets called up on stage to play the game. Alex goes missing from school for a while after that and then Damien Cray is dead and Alex Rider comes back to school." The kid is full swing now. "More missed school and much later Alex shows up with a mysterious biking injury right after a young boy was shot in front of-get this-the same bank that his uncle worked at."

"Pretty impressive work you did there." James agreed.

"Yeah, I would agree if I do say so myself." The kid said.

James leaned forward. "So, do you have a theory?"

"Kind of." The kid said. "I got a lot of my information from my Dad."

"Oh yeah, whose your dad?" James asked.

"His name is James too." The kid said.

The bell rang signaling that lunch was over. "Well it was nice to talk to you...I'm sorry, I never caught your name."

"It's Kevin. Kevin Sprintz." The kid said. He sauntered off.

**Alex POV**

Sitting in a car was boring but it was far better than being chased after some goon or swimming away from jellyfish. Being bored in a car was not likely to give him nightmares. Alex scanned the empty shipping yard again. No sign of anybody. Maybe this was the real test. Maybe there was no real agent and Mrs. Jones was just sending him here to test his patience. It would explain why she had refused to tell him the agent's name. After five more minutes of nothing Alex had nearly convinced himself that his hypothesis was correct. Another five minutes and he was about ready to drive off.

_Pop! Pop!_ _Pop! _Alex recognized that sound. It was the sound of a gun going off. Alex got out of the SUV and pulled his gun. He waited, looking for a sign of the agent or the bad guys. From between two shipping containers a dark skinned man ran towards him. He was aiming his gun behind him and shooting off several rounds. Alex heard a loud growl from what he assumed was one of the man's pursuers. In Alex's experience if you were the good guy you were probably on the run but he couldn't be sure that was just him so he waited until the man was closer to shout, "Would you be a MI6 agent?"

The man laughed. "Depends on who's asking."

"MI6." Alex said.

"Then yes, yes I am." He said. "I certainly hope you're my backup."

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." Alex said.

The man reached the car and bent over to catch his breath. "I seriously hope I can do more than say it. Can you use a gun?"

Alex snorted. "Yeah, I can use a gun."

"Good." The man pointed at the group of ten or so men running towards them. "Aim at them."

Alex shook his head but pulled his gun up and fired off a couple of shots. He avoided any kill shots and instead went for the legs, which would prevent just about anybody from chasing after you. "And what exactly did you do to these men?"

"That's classified." The man said. Alex grinned. He'd never realized how ridiculous that sounded till it came out of someone else's mouth.

After the last guard went down the two men got in the SUV. Alex fired up the engine and took off. The man took a good look at Alex. "I don't think we've ever met mate."

"I doubt that we have." Alex said. "I haven't been here in seventeen years."

"I thought you sounded American." The man said. "So if you've been in American since you were, what, seventeen, then how'd you get into MI6?"

Alex sighed. "Bad luck."

"I see you're a very descriptive man." He said. "Let me see. How old are you?"

"Thirty-two." Alex said.

"Ahh, so you were...fifteen." The man said. "Fifteen...you left...now you're back. Oh my Lord, Alex? Alex Rider?"

Alex took a much longer and more careful look at the man and his dark skin, spiky hair, and carefree smile. "Tom Harris?"

**AN: How'd you like the reappearance of an old character and the kind-of old character? I had fun writing them in. I know that this chapter was a little short but it was necessary and the next one will be longer. We'll also see some more of James and Eve. Don't forget to review!**


	3. Teammates

**AN: Another Thank you goes out to Holly-Batali who has taken the perilous journey of beta-ing my work. I use a T rating for general safety but I will note that the rating is finally being put to a solid use in this story. Where Others Run will contain much stronger language than Where Others Fail. I would also like o apologize for the wait but this time I really did have a reason, my family moved from Tennessee to Ohio and when you add in school and the ACT I just had too much on my plate. All I can say is that I'm sorry.**

**Disclaimer: Forgot this last chapter. i don't even own these books let alone the rights to Alex Rider.**

**Larka The White Wolf: Yes way! Tom really is a spy...and he's decent but not nearly as good as Alex. No one is as good as Alex.**

**2whitie: Cheers! We love old characters.**

**Jasper Says Relax 2010: It is most definitely possible to be both surprised and not surprised.**

**Getsumen Kage no Mai: More like; wait for all hell to break loose in 5...4...3...2...1. We have to add a few more seconds to give them time to drive to Mrs. Jones. *evil smile***

**Albany: I must admit that I read your review and my first thought was, wait a minute...that's english. Glad you're already enjoying it.**

**MonssterUnderYourBed: I'm glad you liked the plot twist. Sorry it took so long to post.**

**Synchro Lover: I'm glad.**

**Dudeseyaj: I'm glad you're enjoying this story. I love bringing in old characters in unique ways so stay tuned. Like I told everyone else, I really deeply and truly am sorry for not updating sooner.**

**Alex POV**

"What are you doing here?" Alex asked.

"What am *I* doing here? What are *you* doing her?" Tom asked. "Why aren't you dead?"

Alex frowned. "Excuse me?"

"I thought you were dead Alex." Tom spoke slowly. "You never came back and so we all just figured..."

Alex looked down. "Look Tom, I'm sorry I never said goodbye. It's just after everything with Jack I couldn't...I couldn't handle it."

"Oh yeah, how's Jack doing?" Tom grinned.

Alex's head shot up. "You don't know?"

"Know what?" Tom asked.

Alex took a deep breath. "Jack died seventeen years ago."

Tom's smile fell. "Damn, Alex, I'm sorry."

"It wasn't your fault. If it was anyone's fault it was mine." Alex said.

"I'm sure it wasn't your fault." Tom said.

Alex remembered the hate in Julius' eyes; hate for Alex, not Jack. He sighed. "No. It was definitely my fault."

There was a moment of silence that filled the car more compltely than noise ever could. Tom shifted. "So what are you doing here? What brought you back?"

"MI6." Alex practically growled it.

"But they have nothing left to hold over you." Tom said gently. "Right?"

"Wrong." Alex said. "They're using my family."

"Your family?" Tom asked.

"My wife. My son." Alex said wistfully. "The only people in the world I care about."

Tom shook his head. "You never struck me as a family guy, not with MI6 and everything."

Alex nodded. "The espionage world is no place for families."

"Well then, why?" Tom asked.

"I thought I was out of that world." Alex said.

Tom mulled that over for a moment. "Would you mind telling me about them."

And that put a smile on Alex's face so he did tell Tom about them. He told Tom everything about them he could think of. Alex had never really had a real family before Eve and james. Tom had experienced a whole family until his parents split. Now Tom, like any other sane human being, dreamed of that familial connection. He listened intently with the enthusiasm of a druggie getting his fix. Alex let story after story slide out of his mouth and even as the danger aimed at his family mounted Alex was glad. He was glad that he'd been allowed to experience a family. He was glad he had learned and lived and loved the way he had. Alex was going to come back alive to his family. He would go on Mrs. Jones' mission because that's what he needed to do to protect his family and then he would come back and make sure he enjoyed as many moments with his family as possible. Alex promised himself those moments. "We're here."

**Tom POV**

Tom looked up at the looming shadow of the bank. "Great."

They walked in together and rode the elevator up to Mrs. Jones' floor in silence. Alex didn't bother talking to the receptionist and the poor kid looked too scared to stop him. Tom followed Alex down the hallway and watched him slam open Mrs. Jones' door so that it cracked against the wall and Mrs. Jones jumped. Tom had never seen Mrs. Jones show surprise like that. Maybe that's what made him so different from everyone else: Where Others run Alex only got stronger.

Alex walked right up to Mrs. Jones' desk and placed his hands in the center and knocking over the stacks of paper there by default. "I don't know what games you're playing or what buttons you're trying to push but let me tell you something. I'm not going to make things easy on you and I'm not going to suddenly roll over and play dead. You want a fight 'cause now you've got one and I don't fight fair."  
>Mrs. Jones analyzed Alex's features and then nodded. Alex stood straight. "Now, I'm going to go out to the lobby and wait for you to call the receptionist to tell me to come back. I don't want to wait all day so you'd best make the call in the next ten minutes because at ten'o'clock I'm leaving. Once I walk out that door we never talk about this moment again. Be careful of your next moves."<p>

Alex pivoted and sauntered out of the room without closing the door behind him. Tom, however, remained. Mrs. Jones stared at the doorway for a moment and then turned her eyes to Tom who said, "You misjudged him."

Mrs. Jones scowled. "I know."

"He adapts. That's what he does. That's why you picked him, that's why he's so good at this, and yet when he does just that you get surprised." Tom stated.

Mrs. Jones' scowl deepend. "I know."

"Do you really know or do you just wish you did?" Tom asked and then he too walked out of Mrs. Jones' office.

**Alex POV**

At exactly one minute after ten the receptionist told Alex he could go on back to her office. Alex just smiled, this little show of power meant she probably hadn't expected his outlash. She may have something else up her sleeve but it had been put there in preperation for a much more submissive Alex. If she thought she was going to win this she must have been more nuts than he'd originally thought. Surely she wouldn't try anything soon.

That's what he thought until he walked into her office.

**Eve POV**

After the events of the original parent-teacher conference at Brookland Comprehensive Eve had decided two things: one was that all future parent-teacher conferences would be held on a more one-on-one basis and the other was that Alex would probably not want to go to another one. That's how she found herself in the halls of Brookland Comrehensive alone. Eve had left James with a babysitter at home and then come straight here. Eve recalled the route to Mrs. Cole's room but stopped when she saw the wife of the man Eve'd punched standing outside the door. She was fairly young and decently attractive. More than anything she seemed tired. Eve froze and contemplated turning and running or pretending she didn't recognize the woman. The choice was taken away from her when the woman turned and saw her. "Oh! Hello Mrs. Rider."

"Eve." She automatically corrected.

The woman held out her hand. The nails were bitten. "Eve it is. My name is Angela. I"m Benjamin's wife. Ben's the man you hit."

Eve blushed. "Yes, look I'm very sorry about that I-"

"You did what you felt was necessary; there's nothing wrong with that." Eve replied.

"I do and he deserved it." Angela said. "I mean, we were all surprised to see Alex like that but that gives Ben no reason to-"

"It surprised you to see Alex so what?" Eve asked.

Angela shrugged. "Healthy, whole, and happy. After his uncle died he just seemed to lose all hope. He was cynical, lost, and angry. It was such a complete personality change that people started saying he was doing drugs."

"Was he?" Eve asked.

Angela shrugged again. "I won't claim to know because I was never close to him. Loss can do strange things to people and drugs can do even stranger thangs."

"You sound like you know." Eve said.

Angela nodded. "My parents were drug users when I was younger."

"What did you think about the rumors?" Eve asked.

Angela sighed. "I think the drug and gang rumors were as false as the sicknesses he claimed, but they were more believable to a bunch of students than two months of chicken pox."

**Alex POV**

"What are they doing here?" Alex asked through barely unclenched teeth.

Mrs. Jones nodded. "Good. You recognize them."

"Of course I recognize them." Alex said. "*What* are they doing here?"

"They're here for the same reason you and Mr. Harris are here. They are about to embark on a mission; the same mission you're going on." Mrs. Jones said.

Alex felt his eye twitch. "Why?"

"Because you all are going to go in as a team." Mrs. Jones said.

"And you couldn't find anyone else?" Alex asked.

"Aw, don't worry Cub." Wolf said grinning. "This'll be fun."

Alex hadn't liked K-Unit when he'd had to work with them eighteen years ago. He wasn't thrilled with the idea of working with them now. He sure as hell didn't think it would be fun. "Surely there's someone else."

"Aw hell Cub." Snake spoke with his Scottish accent looking sincerely hurt. "We're trained. We know what we're doing."

"That's not why he doesn't want to work with us." It was this man that had changed the most. He looked more mature, more stable, than he had before.

"Eagle." Alex said. "You were the limo driver."

"Excuse me?" Wolf asked.

Eagle just nodded and then looked to Wolf. "During the operation in America I went undercover in a capacity with Alex and drove the limo to the airport. I never saw him after that."

"I knew you looked familiar." Alex said.

"I don't understand though." Snake said. "Why doesn't he want to work with us?"

"Do you not remember the way we treated him back then?" Eagle asked.

Wolf frowned. "That was eighteen years ago and he was just a kid. We aren't going to treat him like that now."

Eagle sighed. "Past wounds hurt, mates."

Alex admitted to himself that Eagle was right. He didn't want to work with K-Unit because it hadn't been a great experience last time no matter how childish holding a grudge over eighteen years seemed. Mrs. Jones didn't seem to care. "Whatever the past problems may be the five of you will be working together on this mission."

Alex ground his teeth together. No matter how much he didn't like this set-up he retained the knowledge of what was important: his family. "Fine."

"Good. Some introductions are in order I do believe." Mrs. Jones said. "The man you knew as Wolf is Luis Guillermo. Snake is Duncan Finley. The man that drove the limo and introduced himself as Eagle at Breacon Beacons is William Thane."

"Will." Eagle corrected.

Alex glared at them. "I still don't like you."

Snake frowned. "What's his name?"

Mrs. Jones, Wolf/Luis, Eagle/Will, and Tom all looked at Snake/Duncan amazed. Alex rolled his eyes. "I never met Duncan outside of SAS Training like I did the rest of you. My name is Alex Rider."

"Alex Rider, teenage spy Alex Rider?" Snake asked. Then he shook his head. "Now it all makes sense."

Alex made a mental note to ask Duncan about that later. "What happened to Ben?"

"Ben?" Will asked.

"Fox." Mrs. Jones corrected. "Mr. Daniels is currently holding the position of Deputy Head of MI6 and therefore is not going to accompany you on this mission."

Alex nearly let his jaw drop. He absorbed that bit of information and shook his head. "Perhaps we should get to the briefing of this mission."

"I agree." Mrs. Jones said and she motioned for them to take a seat. Alex was the first to drop in a chair.  
>Mrs. Jones gave a thick manila folder to each man. "This gives information on your mission."<p>

Alex flipped open the folder and read the first word; organization. His heart sunk, Scorpia was the last organization he'd gone head to head with. Look how well that had turned out. Mrs. Jones continued. "The organization known as Purity Fighters is a white supremecy group."

Alex raised an eyebrow at Tom who was on the dark side of black not that Alex had a problem with it. He just didn't see how this kind of undercover operation would work. "Question?"

"Mr. Harris will be working in a more technological aspect for this mission. He will not be going undercover with you all." Mrs. Jones said without looking up.

Alex nodded and Mrs. Jones continued. "Purity Fighters was founded four years ago by a man named Ethan Lake. Ethan Lake, however, died in some very mysterious circumstances with only his lieutenant as a witness. His lieutenant, one Charles Patrick, took over a year ago. Ethan was manageable. He didn't cause a lot of ruckus, he just liked being in power. Charles Patrick, on the other hand, fully believes in the Purity Fighters' cause. He has become a problem for the British government."

Alex squirmed at her justification. "That's the only reason we're going after this organization? Because it's a problem for the government?"

Mrs. Jones looked at him with emotionless eyes, analyzing them, and then looked back down at her own copy of the folder. "The next page contains the threat he sent to the Prime Minister. It basically tells the Prime Minister that unless he closes down the All Black College south of London Charles and his followers will be forced to take action."

"What kind of action?" Luis asked.

Mrs. Jones replied, "We haven't the slightest. The point is that there is likely a planned attack of some sort planned against the British people and we therefore need to infiltrate Purity Fighters and take them down from the inside."

"What's our story?" Duncan asked.

"Purity Fighters is not an organization that you join, it's an organization that you are recruited by." Mrs. Jones said. Alex didn't like the similarities between Purity Fighters and Scorpia. Of course, at least Purity Fighters had a reason for their violence; a bad reason but a reason nonetheless.

"So how do they get recruited?" Tom asked.

"Alex has already been scouted so I would assume that their request would come soon." Mrs. Jones replied.

Alex's eyebrows shot up. "Me? Why have I been scouted?"

"They've recruited from MI5, the Government communications Headquarters, and Defense Intelligence as well as many other agencies in Britain and around the world. In England the only places they haven't recruited from is MI6 and the SAS. We're about to provide them the perfect opportunity to get some of the best from both."

"We'll push the process along to make the recruitment of Alex seem sweeter so that when they call and offer him a position with them he can agree on one condition." Mrs. Jones said. "That you get to bring your SAS Unit with you."

"And then?" Alex asked.

Wolf grinned. "And then let the games begin?"

**AN: Alright, so...if your curious about the limo driver Where Others Fail reference check Chapter 6 of WOF. I promise you it's there. This time the next chapter will indeed be up in a week if I have to break into the CIA building myself to upload it. On my honor or I may be chopped up and made into soup...that was a Finding Nemo reference. Thank you to those of you who still stick with this story. Please review because it helps me motivate myself to upload faster. Really it does...otherwise I get all depressed cause it doesn't seem like anyone's reading my story.**


	4. K Unit

**AN: So, I'm glad that a good portion of you stuck with me through this story. You all make writing worth it. This is me submitting on time. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I think these are stupid. Obviously if I actually owned Alex Rider I wouldn't be writing fanfiction, I'd be writing real fiction. And the name on the books wouldn't be Anthony Horowitz, it'd be Nicole Travis.**

**Thank-You's:**

**Albany: I was unsure about adding Tom in as an agent so I'm glad you agree it was the right choice. As for K-Unit, when I first read Stormbreaker so many years ago I absolutely hated K-Unit. Why? Because that was the first time I saw them. After that, we get a mention of them once or twice but in the actual books written by Anthony Horowitz we never really see them as real people. They were always so petty in my opinion. You're right though, on fanfiction there are so many stories about the friendship and companionship of this group of guys. I assure you that their relationship will indeed change over time...whether for good or bad? Stay tuned!**

**MonssterUnderYourBed: I'm glad it was, as you put it, totally worth it. I apologize for the inconvenience that my lateness in updating caused. I, for one, know how annoying it is when someone just stops updating. I promise you that I will never ever abandon this story.**

**2whitie: In my opinion K-Unit makes everything better; dialogue, monologues, chapters, fanfictions, and hot dogs. Just kidding! But seriously, I'm a huge fan of K-Unit. I know one of the reviewers of WOF really liked the idea of a K-Unit fic and since I love bringing in old characters I knew they would be perfect for this story. Believe it or not from the first mention of K-Unit I had this story all worked out in my head. I was desperately hoping that you'd all vote for a sequel since I had this all worked out. It was going to be a huge pain writing a different story with this in my head.**

**Synchro lover: I went back and looked at the reviews from Where Others Fail and realized you really did go back and read that one first. Kudos to you! Onto your current review, I hope you like intrigue. I love intrigue almost as much as I love characters and I really, really, REALLY, love characters. If you ask any of the other readers you'll realize that I'm a big fan of cliffhangers (although not to the point of cruelty).**

**Alex's Wife: Oh Eve! I've always wanted to meet you! Oh wait, never mind. Sigh. Anywho, I'm glad you liked the chapter. I'm going to try to do every week updates but it might stretch to biweekly updates once we start musical again. I'm glad Chapter 3 was OMG worthy.**

**Getsumen Kage no Mai: I didn't even realize I'd snuck in a Hunger Games quote. That's actually kind of funny. I would not be surprised to find that it is a combination of Alex, Tom, and K-Unit that causes the End of the World. (Bet the Mayans didn't see that coming) When it comes to angst I'm always real hesitant. I don't like to make the characters seem whiney but there is some emotional backlash to everything. Alex's outburst comes from a fear of not being in control. Once again MI6 has affected something in his personal life and he's not sure how to cope with that. At least, that's how I saw it.**

**James POV**

James considered himself quite practical for a seven year old. Not many children in second grade had such logical capabilites. Therefore, he was not the type of second grader to backmouth a teacher, forget to do homework, or doodle in his notebook in the middle of the class. Today, however, he had done just that. All of that. The doodles on his notebook depicted animals from far away places and if he'd been asked a question right now by the teacher he would have no clue what to answer. The last time he'd looked up they'd been discussing poison ivy and looking up now it seemed they had moved on to French vocab. Well, James knew quite a bit of French, he might be able to answer a question.

After his dad left yesterday he and his mother hadn't even heard from him. They could only wonder and worry. Mom had done plenty of worrying. She was out of it, he could tell. She'd poured orange juice in his cereal and then in her own. She'd even taken a couple bites before she'd realized what she'd done. Of course, James had fogotten his homework so who was he to judge her being out of it. The bell rang that signaled the end of the day. James closed his folder and gathered his supplies. He accidently knocked over his pencil case and had to spend time picking up all those pencils and was the only person left in the classroom when he was finished. The teacher looked around casually and then asked, "James, can I speak to you?"

James' mother would be out in the parking lot waiting for him but he could spare a couple minutes so he nodded. "Sure Mr. O'Brian."

"How are you doing today?" Mr. O'Brian asked.

James arched an eyebrow. "Swell."

Mr. O'Brien frowned. "You're Alex Rider's son correct."

James tensed, prepared to defend his father. "Yes sir."

Mr. O'Brian nodded. "Good kid back then. Problems, they all have problems, but a genuine good kid."

James was surprised. "Thank you."

"The thing is, I know you've only been here for a couple weeks but you've always been an exemplary student. Eager to learn, polite, and attentive. Today I saw none of that. You weren't yourself." Mr. O'Brian said. "So I have to ask, is everything okay?"

Of all the answers that crossed James' mind in that moment the truth was never one of them. So James smiled and laughed and replied, "Yeah, everything's cool."

Mr. O'Brian let out a relieved smile and sighed. "'Yeah' and 'cool'? You Americans have the funniest phrases."

And just like that James was off the hook and outside Mr. O'Brian's classroom. Someone else was outside the classroom too. "Hey Kevin!"

The bulky fifth grader waved at him. "Stayed back to talk to the teacher?"

James shrugged. "Something like that."

Kevin nodded and then blushed, an expression that looked quite ridiculous on someone so large. He handed James half a piece of notebook paper. "This has my name and my phone number on it."

James examined the piece of paper and found another strange set of numbers. "And this?"

"That's the channel I can be reached on my HAM radio. I'm a bit of a amateur but my Dad thinks it's a cool hobby." Kevin said.

James realized that this HAM radio channel was likely the source of Kevin's blushing. James smiled for his benefit. "I think it's cool too."

"If you ever need anything you know?" Kevin said.

James nodded, they said their goodbyes, and James headed to the front of the school building where his mother would be waiting impatiently.

**Alex POV**

Mrs. Jones had refused to allow any of them to go home after the briefing. Judging by Tom's flash of surprise he hadn't been able to hide Alex decided that such procedure was not usual and therefore it was likely aimed at him. Another case of other people being affected negatively because of him. They'd each been given a private room on the floor below Mrs. Jones and Ben Daniel's floor. The rooms were, at best, bare. The walls were a clean and clinical looking white with a tan carpet covering the floor. The bed frame and tables were made of a cheap wood and the bed linens were dark blue. The lamp was the same color as the linens and emitted a poor yellow light. There was a closest filled with various different outfits in his size and there was no window.

Alex was not a morning person but that didn't mean he stayed in bed till eight. Alex had a habit of getting up at six in the morning so that he could be there to open the diving shop and even moving back to England hadn't changed that. Just like always he found himself waking at six and flicking on the light. He searched for an ordinary workout tracksuit and put it on. Within minutes he was dressed and out the door in search of a training room. Sure enough after asking a couple people he was directed to a room down at the end of a long hallway. The room could very well have been double or even triple the size of a high school gym. There was indeed a basketball court with several basketballs, soccer balls, and american footballs. There was a punching bag in two of the corners and a karate mat in the middle of the left half of the gym. It might have been logical to use the punching bag or the karate mat or the track running along the outside of the gym but Alex's eyes kept straying back to the soccer balls. It'd been a long time since he'd played soccer. It had been back in America, teaching his son how to play.

Alex walked over to the soccer balls hesitantly. He grabbed a well filled ball and dropped it on the floor. He kicked it forward a foot and then another foot. Carefully, he began dribbling the ball towards the center of the field. It was like riding a bike, he found, he hadn't forgotten a thing. People often told Alex that he walked methodically, like every step was planned. Alex disagreed. He never had a plan. Alex walked with instinct. There was a part of him that just knew where to step. It was that same instinct that people called the Devil's Luck. That luck or instinct or whatever you wanted to call it translated well into sports. That's why he'd been captain all those years back. He just _knew_ what to do. He did a couple of tricks with the ball that Ian had taught him, and then he lined up the ball to the net and watched it sail into the goal. There was clapping from the other side of the gym.

Alex looked to find Tom and K-Unit in the doorway. Tom smirked. "Haven't lost your talent on the field I see."

Alex felt a blush crawl up his cheeks. He wasn't exactly sure why he was embarrassed, just that he was. "I'll get out of your way."

"No need." Snake said. Alex corrected himself, the man's name was Duncan. "I haven't played a good game of football in a while. Anybody else up for a game?"

Tom fist pumped. "I call Alex!"

Wolf (no, Luis!) grinned like, well, a wolf. "I've got Eagle."

Eagle rolled his eyes. "He knows our names know Luis. Call me Will."

"Right. Will. Whatever." Luis replied.

Alex looked at Duncan. "Our team or theirs'?"

Duncan shrugged. "SAS against MI6?"

"Well then the numbers aren't even on MI6's side. Guess I'll have to play too." They all turned and found Ben standing there with a smile on his face.

Will laughed. "Fox! Didn't expect to see you down here."

"Even Tulip Jones herself couldn't keep me from seeing my old pals." Ben said. He nodded towards Alex and then looked to Tom. "Agent Harris right?"

Tom pretended to swoon. "Oh! The Deputy of MI6 knows my name! He knows my name!"

Ben rolled his eyes. "So, are we playing football or not?"

An hour later, Alex tossed the soccer ball back into the basket of balls. "Damn good game of soccer."

"Oh it's soccer now is it?" Tom asked. "Are you going American on us now?"

"Well, soccer or football, you are bloody brilliant at it." Luis slugged Alex in the arm hard enough to make him stumble. "How come you never told us you were such a fine football player back then?"

Alex shrugged. "I wasn't _that_ good."

Tom snorted. "Sure. We just won about every single game Alex played in. I mean, that one year we went undefeated and took the championship. Then after our fourteenth birthdays we took that first game like thirty to nothing but then…"

Alex looked down. "That was the year I started working for MI6. I missed so much school they finally had to kick me off the team."

Will coughed suspiciously and then scratched the back of his neck. "Actually, we already knew that."

Luis elbowed him in the side. "Shut the hell up."

Alex looked at them. "How did you know?"

"Well…" Tom started. "I kind of told them."

"What?" Alex asked just as Tom said. "Everything."

Ben laughed and shook his head. "It was bound to come out sooner or later. These guys are nothing if not stubborn. Besides, Mrs. Jones cleared them for your file."

Alex glared at Tom who just shrugged. "I figured I could paint things in a better light than one of those boring files for them."

"Did you really go into outer space?" Duncan asked.

Alex closed his eyes. "How much did you tell them Tom?"

When Alex opened his eyes he saw Tom shrug. "Not everything."

"Forget space, I want to know if you really trained with SCORPIA." Luis said.

Alex glared at Tom again. The man sighed. "Okay, yeah, I told them everything."

"So, who wants to go to the shooting range?" Ben asked.

**Ben POV**

The shooting range in MI6's headquarters was probably the best in Europe. A lot of money had been spent making the range just right and as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. Even though the shooting range had been completed before Ben had taken office as Deputy of MI6 he felt a trace of pride in him for the range simply because he worked for the organization that owned it. Ben thought it was a silly reason to have pride, something his SAS mates wouldn't have understood either. His eyes fell on Alex Rider again and he realized that Alex might understand the feeling.

Ben motioned to the wall of guns. "Pick one."

Alex picked a simple hand gun. The same model, Ben noted observantly, that he used for his personal weapon. Ben was prompted to ask, "Is that your favorite model?"

Alex shrugged. "I don't have a favorite really. I can shoot just about all of them."

Ben grabbed his favorite gun and replaced it with the one in Alex's hands. "Prove it."

Alex scowled. "Why?"

Ben shrugged. "Curiosity."

Alex seemed to be searching Ben's face for clues but Alex wasn't the only one who could hide emotions. Eventually Alex gave up and went to his position. He aimed at the target and fired several rounds. Alex returned the gun to Ben. "Happy?"

Ben smiled. "I will be."

He leaned over and pushed the button bringing the target up to the front. There was a single hole in the center of the target. Luis laughed. "Some shot you are. You missed all but one."

"Well that one bullet _is_ in the center of the target." Will said.

Alex scowled again. "I don't miss."

Luis pointed at the target laughing even harder. "What do you call that then?"

"I call it five shots in the same place." Alex replied smoothly.

Luis stopped laughing and looked at the target closely; then he looked at Ben. "Is he serious? He can't be serious. No one can do that."

"SCORPIA used to be able to." Ben said.

The members of K-Unit looked at Alex with a mixture of awe and disbelief. Alex squirmed under their gaze. "You look like a bunch of fish."

That made them snap their mouths shut. Snake muttered under his breath, "I wish I'd trained with SCORPIA."

If Alex disagreed with that statement it didn't show on his face, Ben was sure of that. He'd been watching.

**Eve POV**

Eve loved Saturday mornings. While everyone else slept in Eve was the one who got up in the morning, did some light cleaning, made breakfast, and then waited until everyone woke up. Saturday gave her personal time and then eased her family into her day. Eve loved Saturday mornings.

James was munching happily on chocolate chip pancakes. Eve had learned to make pancakes from her mother and her mother learned to make them from _her_ mother. All three of them agreed Eve's pancakes were best. Once upon a time Eve had wanted to grow up and be a chef but she learned the art of the argument and decided that the life of a lawyer might be more her style. She never regretted the decision, grateful that the only time she cooked was for her family. There was a knock at the door.

Eve loved Saturday mornings for another reason. No one bothered her family. No one knocked at the door. Eve left James eating his pancakes and went to answer the door. The woman on her porch was unfamiliar. "Hi there. How can I help you?"

"It's nice to finally meet you Mrs. Rider." The woman said. She held out her hand. "My name is Mrs. Jones. We need to talk."

**AN: So I was reading someone's reviews and one of the reviews just completely destroyed this author for asking her readers to review X amount of times before she posted. This reviewer told the author that writers on fanfiction don't write for money so they should write for passion not reviews or alerts or favorites. I'll be honest with you, I write for the recognition. In my opinion I'm not going to write the stories down if the only person who's going to read them is me. In your review tell me your view on this (and what you thought about the chapter)!**


	5. Smithers

**AN: Thank you for sticking with me. I know sometimes it can be rough to stick with a writer who doesn't seem to want to update on time but for those of you who did, thank you. I shouldn't give you this chapter so early because then you'll start expecting it, but I've had it written since Thursday so I'm struggling to keep it locked up till next Thursday. **

**Thank You's:**

**Getsumen Kage no Mai – Well, a lot of the information he got from Alex himself. Everything else he got from Alex's file. Remember, he knew what he was looking for unlike the other agents. Some other stuff relating to Tom's information will be revealed later. I agree about the whole bullet thing. Wouldn't it be cool if we could all do that? (Shakes head sadly) Thanks for your review.**

**Toolazytologin: Sometimes I agree with them and sometimes I just want to shoot them. But that's life. I'm glad you like the chapter and kudos to you for actually reading the Author's Note. A lot of people don't.**

**2whitie: Thank you for actually reading the Author's Note. Like I told toolazytologin, sometimes I agree and sometimes I don't. But I think readers have somewhat of a duty to alert, favorite, and review when the work deems it. It don't believe it's a favor. I HATE the stereotypes that K-Unit falls subject to. Someone came up with them and now they can't get out from under them. However, at this point it is the personalities that most readers are familiar with. I hope that all of my characters have a little more dimension than that but if any of you spot something flat about my characters, especially K-Unit, please feel free to let me know in the comments. I promise that all the characters will have fresh personalities without going overboard. I'm striving for believable.**

**Synchro lover: Thank you very much. I was worried that you may not stick around with me after all the trouble I had uploading recently. Thank you very much for you continued support.**

**MonssterUnderYourBed: In my opinion (and maybe I'm a little biased) your opinion is very important. Thank you for sharing it. I'm glad you think the chapter "rocked". I'm glad you think I rocked too.**

**Albany: You have always been incredibly helpful in improving my stories and writing. You also were the first to pick up on all of the hints in the last book. When you review I always know I can trust you to have written something insightful and useful. As for Mrs. Jones visiting Eve, well, you'll see.**

**James POV**

On a usual day James' mother would get up early on Saturday and clean and cook and do Mom stuff that Dad said she needed to do to keep sane. Dad would wait until Mom got up and went to the kitchen or living room before he snuck out of their bedroom and into James'. He'd wake James up and together they'd play video games until nine or so in the morning when they'd come out into the kitchen and eat whatever delicious breakfast Mom had cooked up. James thought they were both nuts but they were all adults and adults were notorious for doing weird things. Dad wasn't here this Saturday. James actually slept in till nine today. He liked sleeping in…he liked playing video games with Dad even more. He had been eating his pancakes, chocolate chip pancakes to be exact, when there was a knock on the door. A knock on the door at nine 'o' clock on a Saturday morning was never a good sign. James waited until Mom left the kitchen to get the door to sneak behind her. He barely made it into the living room in time to hear the woman introduce herself as Mrs. Jones. James forgot all about being sneaky. "You're the woman who makes my father be a spy?"

The woman looked past Eve and looked at James. "I don't make your father do anything. He always has a choice."

James almost expected an answer like that, but just because he's seven years old doesn't make him stupid. "Yes. He has a choice between working for you and endangering his family. Gee, what a choice?"

Mrs. Jones looked taken aback, shocked. After a quick moment she composed herself. "You're a lot like your father."

"Thanks." James said. Whether Mrs. Jones meant it as a compliment or not he was sure going to take it that way.

"May I have a seat?" Mrs. Jones asked Mom.

James interrupted. "I'd prefer if you didn't."

Mom struggled to hide her smirk. "Sure. Take a seat on the couch."

James took a seat in one of the recliners and Mom took a seat in the other one so they both faced Mrs. Jones who was dwarfed by the large couch. "We need to talk about Alex."

**Alex POV**

After the events in the gym and the shooting range Alex decided to spend some time alone in his room. He'd skipped breakfast, choosing instead to go to his room around ten in the morning. He didn't even realize he'd fallen asleep until the piercing alarm sent him jumping out of bed. His head hit the corner of the dresser giving him a massive headache and, as he felt his head, an inch long gash. Alex went over to the linen closet and pulled out a washcloth and held it to his forehead. The alarm was still screaming which only made his head ache worse. Alex stumbled out of the room and checked the hallway. Tom and the whole of K-Unit were there. Tom looked at him and added in the alarm and came up with, "What the bloody hell?"

Alex winced. "You stuck bloody in there just so it would seem doubly British."

Tom laughed. "True, but not the point. Seriously, what's going on?"

Alex shrugged. "I fell asleep and the alarm went off. I fell out of bed and hit my head on the dresser."

"No really." Duncan said.

Alex frowned. "That's really what happened."

Luis snickered. "You honestly fell out of bed?"

"Aw, bug off!" Alex snapped. "Have you heard that alarm?"

"Agent Rider. Please report to Smithers' office immediately. Agent Rider. Please report to Smithers' office immediately." The voice blared through the speakers even louder than the alarm.

Alex pinched the bridge of his nose and then mockingly said. "Come Alex. Sit Alex. Stay Alex."

K-Unit gave him a strange look. Alex rolled his eyes. "Can someone point me in the direction of Smithers' office?"

K-Unit looked at each other confused but Tom nodded. "It's cool. I'll take you. You guys coming?"

Tom led them to the elevator and dropped them down to Sub-Level 4. Alex looked at Tom with raised eyebrows. "We have Sub-Levels?"

Tom shrugged. "Sure."

The group walked into a warehouse like room that reminded him of Smithers' workplace at the old factory in America. Alex's fists clenched in anger at the memory. Smithers had lied to him. The only person who hadn't lied to him in MI6 and the only person he'd trusted; it was worth nothing now. "Let's get this done."

Smithers was waiting for them at his workstation. He looked up at them. Alex caught the flash of guilt in his eyes but then he was smiling again. "Hello there Alex, Tom, K-Unit."

The others responded with greetings in various levels of enthusiasm. Alex didn't respond at all. "What do you need?"

"We have a call for you." Smithers replied.

"From?" Alex asked.

"The main man of Purity Fighters himself. He's currently got someone working on getting a blocked number onto your phone so that they can't be traced but we're expecting the call any minute now." Smithers said. "Mrs. Jones wanted you down here so the call could be monitored."

"Monitored." Alex repeated.

Smithers blushed. "You know how she is."

"Only too well." Alex said with a pointed glare at the man.

Smithers turned red and then caught sight of Alex's wounded head. "Whatever happened to you old sport?"

K-Unit chuckled. Alex ignored them. "I was attacked."

"Really?" Smithers asked.

Alex nodded gravely. "Some type of ninjas."

K-Unit was full out laughing and even Tom couldn't keep a straight face. Smithers looked at them confused. "Something funny?"

"Well, the ninjas wore a slightly pastel pink." Alex said with a shrug. "Go figure right?"

Alex's phone rang. Smithers pushed a couple buttons on a machine on his worktable and then nodded at Alex. He answered the phone. "Who is this?"

"Well, that is just about the rudest greeting I've ever had the pleasure of hearing." Charles Patrick said. "Agent Rider I assume?"

"Who is this?" Alex repeated.

"I assumed correctly. There is always a risk when you assume things. As the Americans like to say, 'assuming makes an ass out of you and me'. Clever people, Americans." Charles continued.

"Who? Is? This?" Alex asked.

"My name is Charles Patrick." He said.

Alex paused. "The leader of the Purity Fighters?"

"The one and only." Charles said. "You've heard of us."

"Word gets around." Alex said secretively.

"I'll just bet it does." Charles said. "What exactly have you heard about us?"

"I heard that Purity Fighters is an army. An organization committed to the task of hunting down those that some believe don't belong here." Alex said.

"Strong words for someone supposedly on the other side." Charles said.

"I've never gone against you Mr. Patrick." Alex said. "And who says we're on opposing sides?"

"Well, your employers for one." Charles said.

Alex laughed. "I don't like to think of MI6 as my employers."

There was a pause on the other end of the line. "You know Agent Rider, I wouldn't like to think of MI6 as your employers either. You have so much potential. I can't help but feel it's being wasted in MI6."

"This sounds an awful lot like a job proposal Mr. Patrick." Alex said. He let a hint of suspicion creep into his voice.

"Call me Charles." He said. "I won't lie to you Agent Rider. Purity Fighters could definitely use a man with your skills."

"I have a job here. A decent paying job and I'm working with one of the best SAS teams England has." Alex said. "It's going to take a whole lot more than charm and nice words over the phone to make or break this kind of deal."

Charles chuckled. "You're a smart man Agent Rider. I like that. How about we meet at that lovely little café down the street from Royal and General Bank in two hours?"

"Short notice." Alex noted.

Alex could almost hear Charles shrug over the phone. "I like to move fast."

Alex pretended to think it over for a moment and then replied. "Alright. I'll be there."

"And would you do me a favor Agent Rider? Come by yourself." Charles said. "I'll do you the same honor."

"Fair enough." Alex said. There was a click as Charles hung up. He stuck the phone in his pocket. "You get what you need Smithers?"

"Sure did Old Sport." Smithers said.

Alex nodded. "Then I think we'll all be going."

Alex turned but didn't make it to the door before Smithers stopped him. "Wait! Alex, can I speak to you for a moment?"

Alex winced and then turned around. The others stood there, unsure whether or not to leave. But none of them were there, they had no part in it, and they shouldn't have to stay while Smithers and him hashed it out. "You all go on. I'll catch up soon."

They all hesitated but, eventually, followed Alex's request. Alex waited until they were out of earshot to ask, "What's up?"

Smithers looked away. "I need to tell you-What I mean to say is-What happened before-"

"Just stop." Alex said.

Smithers finally looked at him. "No. I need to explain."

"No. You don't." Alex said. The feelings he had for Smithers right now had nothing to do with forgiveness. However, he knew the benefit of peace. "I understand you did what you thought you had to and I-"

"Alex." Smithers interrupted, and Alex was quiet. "Alex, you're pissed off with me right now. I'm not nearly as bloody stupid as everyone seems to think. I _do_ work for MI6."

Alex blushed. "Look-"

"No, Alex, you look." Smithers said. "What I did was wrong. I did it because I was ordered to."

"I understand Smithers." Alex said.

"No you don't. Tell me how you really feel." Smithers said.

Alex took a deep breath, but he'd been given permission. He let him have it. "Orders? Orders? I risked my family's life and my own life because you were following orders? I trusted you. You were the only person left here that I would've trusted. You knew that!"

Smithers nodded. "I knew that. They knew that. They knew you'd believe me. I'm sorry."

Alex scowled. "I've been hearing a lot of sorry lately. Yours, just like all the others, isn't work jack shit."

Alex stormed out. There was only so much even he was willing to put up with.

**Luis POV**

Tom took them back to the gym. He'd given them the option of going back to the gym, the shooting range, or the rooms. Ben really couldn't go to the rooms and it would be impossible to talk in the loud echoing of the shooting range. The gym was the best option by far. Besides, the SAS men were used to staying busy. Hanging out in the gym would give them something to do. Luis was at the punching bag with the rest of K-Unit, Ben Daniels, and Tom Harris around him. They hadn't really spoken. Luis swung his fist into the bag and it moved slightly. "So, Tom, what was up with Alex earlier?"

"Oh, the sleeping?" Tom asked and then chuckled. "Man's been out of the business for quite a few years. Maybe he needs a nap every now and then."

"No. Luis is talking about the comment he made." Will said.

"Come Alex. Sit Alex. Stay Alex." Duncan repeated. "Sounds like a dog."

Ben winced. "That'd be MI6 influence."

Luis punched the bag again and it swung a little farther. He looked at Ben with an arched eye brow. "Explain."

"You are hardly my team leader anymore." Ben said.

"Can you tell us as a friend?" Will asked.

Ben frowned. "I don't think Alex would appreciate Agent Harris or I telling you all anything more about him."

"If you call me Agent Harris again, I'm going to hit you." Tom said.

"Really?" Ben asked.

Tom shrugged. "I was best friends with Alex Rider. You don't scare me."

Duncan slugged Ben in the arm. "Don't you try your MI6 head games on us to distract us. We aren't your average soldiers."

Tom looked like he might have said something sarcastic to the Scottish man but he must have thought better of it because he changed tactics. "Ben's right. I've already told you more than Alex would have wanted."

"Is this stuff in his file?" Luis asked.

Ben shrugged. "I guess so. Everything goes into the files. I think the agent's favorite color goes in."

Tom nodded. "And their favorite food."

"Seriously?" Ben asked shocked.

"Yep." Tom replied.

"Why do you ask?" Ben asked Luis suspiciously.

"Because if you're not willing to tell us than we'll go find the answers ourselves." Luis replied.

Will laughed. "Go obstinacy."

"Why can't you just say stubbornness or determination? No one uses the word obstinacy." Duncan said.

Luis hadn't always wanted to be a soldier. He'd spent some time wanting to be a doctor and some time wanting to be a rock star. The only job he'd never even bothered to consider? A desk job. That was the only job available in the file room however. As they all walked in there was an old man of at least seventy sitting at a little cheap oak desk playing solitaire. He looked up. "Hello there. How can I help you today?"

"We need the file on an agent." Will supplied.

The man nodded. "I'm going to need to see some clearance."

Luis wasn't sure what to show to prove clearance. He looked at the rest of the group for help. Ben sighed and walked forward. "_I_ need to see the file Mr. Herbert."

"Oh, Mr. Daniels. I didn't see you there. Of course, just whose file are you looking for?" Mr. Herbert asked.

"Alex Rider." Luis said.

Mr. Herbert's eyes widened. "Well then, I'll take you to the room."

The old man left his card game and hobbled into the aisles. The group trailed behind him. Duncan caught his glance and mouthed the word, "Room?"

Mr. Herbert had led them to a little door which he shoved a key into and opened for them. "Please put everything back the way you found it and if the room suddenly catches on fire don't open the door."

"How are we supposed to get out if we don't open the door?" Will asked.

Mr. Herbert shrugged. "Not my problem."

The old man left and Ben took a seat at the table in the center of the room. "Have at it boys."

Luis opened the first file cabinet and started hunting down names. "Why is this room separate?"

"It's the Ghost Room." Tom replied using a creepy-ghost-stories-around-the-campfire voice.

"Ghost Room?" Duncan asked, also hunting through the names.

Ben sighed. "One of our agents hacked into the mainframe once and discovered a room not on the official blue prints. Then he went into the file room and realized that not all the agents were in there. He put two and two together and realized that we were holding some of the files in a secret room. A room for ghosts; hence the name, Ghost Room."

"Smart man." Will said. "So these agents in here, what makes them special?"

"Some are the best of the best at something. Some have gone rogue. Some are just unique cases." Ben said. "The agent who inspired the story of James Bond has his file in here."

"There was a real James Bond?" Luis asked.

Ben nodded. "Well, he went by a different name."

"I found it!" Will said. "I found them at least."

"Them?" Duncan asked.

Will held up a stack of four folders. Luis frowned. "Why so many?"

Ben laid his head on the table. "Because there wasn't enough room for all the information in one folder."

They laid the folders on the table. Tom picked them up one by one and then made a stack of three and left the last one in the center. "These three are just mission stuff, statistics, skills, blah, blah, blah. This is all the other stuff."

"Other stuff?" Luis asked.

"Write ups, behavioral analysis, psychological analysis, papers requesting permission for certain events to take place, and surveillance. Stuff like that." Ben said.

"Shouldn't all the surveillance he did be in his missions?" Duncan asked.

"Not surveillance he did, surveillance that was done on him." Ben clarified.

"You watch your own people?" Will asked.

"Not all of them. Just Alex." Ben said.

"Why Alex?" Luis asked.

"The Board is worried he'll try to take off." Ben said.

"Well, it _is_ his choice." Duncan said. "He can take off if he wants."

Ben winced. "Not exactly."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Luis asked. Both Ben and Tom remained quiet. Luis crossed his arms over his chest. "Look, you either tell me or I figure it out for myself from this file."

Ben and Tom remained firm so Luis motioned to Will. Will was their communications expert. Luis did his thing, Snake did the medical thing, and once upon a time Ben had done the explosion thing but Will was all communications. Part of Will's communication training had been to learn to absorb large amounts of information through reading and decipher what was important. Luis trusted him to read the file and tell them what the problem had been. Maybe, Luis allowed, they were being overly nosy. Maybe the y should have just stayed out of it. Whatever was up with Cub, though, was causing stress. Stress on Alex, stress on Tom, stress on everyone. Will's eyes grew large. "Will, what did you find?"

"Holy shite!" Will exclaimed. "They blackmailed him."

Tom looked at Ben. "I _did _tell Alex I didn't tell them everything."

**Eve POV**

"What happened to Alex?" Eve asked, suddenly filled with fear. "If something happened to Alex you better start running because I'm going into the kitchen to get a knife and I know how to use it. Just ask the Thanksgiving turkey."

Mrs. Jones gave a cold smile that might have faintly reminded Alex of Alan Blunt had he been there. He wasn't though, and that was the problem. "Nothing has happened to Alex Mrs. Rider."

"Then what do you want to talk about?" Eve asked.

"Being related to Alex is very dangerous." Mrs. Jones said.

"I wasn't aware." The sarcasm in Eve's voice dripped out like honey.

Mrs. Jones continued like Eve had said nothing. "You should learn to protect yourselves."

"We'll take that suggestion to heart." Eve said.

"It wasn't a suggestion." Mrs. Jones said. "I've taken the liberty of calling in an old friend of mine. He owes me a bit of a favor and I decided to call it for the two of you. The man goes by Sergeant where he's from. I'd like to send you to a place called Breacon Beacons."

**AN: Alex is gonna be so pissed. (Grins maniacally). Don't forget to review.**


	6. Ben Daniels

**AN: Dear Readers, please feel free to review. I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason you aren't and that's okay as long as you understand that it highly pisses me off when you don't. I'm not going to suddenly stop updating this story and leave it open because I hate when other authors do that. However, I know exactly how many visitors each chapter gets and I can't see why you can't take half a minute to write down something you see wrong with it or something that was really good.**

**Disclaimer: I own my own car, I have a license, I own a cat, and I own about twenty pairs of shoes. I don't own Alex Rider or his series of books. **

**Thank You's:**

**2whitie – Like I said, Alex is gonna be pissed. I do exactly the same thing with Author's Notes. There are so many great opportunities to find jokes and ideas in Author's Notes and as long as the original author is okay with it…perfect opportunity.**

**MonssterUnderYourBed – Ha. I love cliffhangers. I'll have you know that I started work on this chapter the very day I posted chapter 5. Don't be expecting speedy updates like that last one though.**

**Synchro lover – I'm trying.**

**Albany – Alright, a moment for clarification. Mrs. Jones was sent to blackmail Alex in America in WOF by the Board which is a new group I added in myself. Mrs. Jones came up with the idea to send Eve and James to BB all on her own. She has come up with several reasons why this is beneficial to her and sent them whether they wanted to go or not. Thank you for your review.**

**Getsumen Kage no Mai - I like a good sarcastic person. Sarcasm is like a foreign language and only certain people can speak it fluently. Alex, I would assume, is one of those people. Yes, I imagine that Mrs. Jones will be filleted when Alex finds out. Thank you for your review.**

**totalRandum - I _hate_ MI6. I hated them in Anthony Horowitz's books. They were just never people I liked. I've been told that characterizatioin is my strong point so I am unsurprised and yet thrilled that you have such strong feelings about my characters...even if the feeling is hatred.**

**Alex POV**

The gym was empty. The shooting range was empty. The rooms were empty. There was a young woman watching Alex travel back and forth from place to place. He finally confronted her. "Is there a reason you're watching me?"

She blushed. "I'm sorry. Really."

Alex didn't even bother giving her the usual spiel of his recent view on apologies. Instead he just asked, "Is there a reason you're watching me?"

"Are you, I mean, you're Alex Rider right?" She asked.

"Maybe." Alex replied. "Who's asking?"

She held out her hand to shake his. He ignored her. She pulled it back, still blushing. "I'm Agent Rose Harper."

"Rose Harper." Alex repeated.

"So are you?" Agent Harper asked.

"What?" Alex asked.

"Alex Rider?" Agent Harper asked.

Alex frowned. "Yes."

Agent Harper grinned. "I told them you were real."

"Excuse me?" Alex asked.

"Well, back at training we heard stories about Alex Rider, the teenage spy. And the SAS guys told us about this kid with the codename Cub. Agent Harris said they were just variations of the same kid. Were you both?" Agent Harper asked.

"Both?" Alex asked.

"You know, Cub _and_ Alex Rider?" Agent Harper prodded.

Alex shrugged. "Yeah."

Agent Harper squealed. "Oh my God, that is amazing!"

Alex shook his head hoping to relieve himself of this sudden weirdness. "Look, did you see a whole group of guys somewhere?"

"You mean Agent Harris, the SAS guys, and Mr. Daniels?" Agent Harper asked.

Alex sighed in relief. "Yes."

"They were talking about going down to the file room." Agent Harper said. She shook her head. "Mr. Daniels will probably have to let them into the Ghost Room."

"The Ghost Room?" Alex asked.

Agent Harper nodded. "Yep. If they were looking for your file then that's where it will be."

Alex heart skipped a beat. He had no interest in K-Unit knowing his business. "Where would one find the file room?"

"Downstairs in Sub-Level 2." Agent Harper said. "It's the only office down there."

Alex took off without another word.

**Will POV**

Will was notoriously nosy. He had peeked and prodded his fellow Unit until he'd eventually earned himself a somewhat obnoxious reputation. With age he'd learned to curb his nosiness. He'd gotten real good at recognizing when he'd pushed too far. From the start of this venture looking for Alex's file his obnoxiousness sense had been buzzing. Alex wouldn't want them here. Alex would think this was obnoxious. Apparently his Unit disagreed. They'd sauntered off anyways looking for answers and, Will was ashamed to admit it, he'd wanted the answers bad enough he'd ignored his better judgment. Now as he looked at Alex's file he realized his instincts had been right and they'd gone too far. The knowledge they now had wasn't something you could just, forget. Alex had found himself up the creek without a paddle and, now that they knew, K-Unit could very well find themselves in the same boat.

Alex stormed into the room with a rambling and yelling Mr. Herbert on his heels. "You cannot just barge into a room like this. There are some very important documents in here not to mention that the Deputy of MI6 is currently holding a meeting. Mr. Daniels, I apologize profoundly."

Ben looked up. "He got past _you_?"

Mr. Herbert blushed. "He's quick, sir, very quick."

Ben sighed and nodded. "Yes, that he is. Mr. Herbert, meet Alex Rider. Alex Rider, meet Mr. Herbert."

"Pleasure." Alex said automatically.

"Agent Rider! Oh, I'm sorry I didn't know it was you." Mr. Herbert said. "Of course you can come in."

Mr. Herbert shot off leaving the remaining men to their business. Alex's gaze fell on the open file in Will's hands and his face shut down. No emotions, no thoughts. "What are you all doing down here?"

Tom glared at them. "They wanted to see your file."

Alex's face still showed nothing. "Of course they did."

Duncan shifted from one foot to the other and back again. "Hey look, it's not like we found anything."

"Liars." Tom muttered.

Luis crossed his arms over his chest. "Alright, so we _did_ find something. No biggie. A Unit should be knowledgeable about the members in it."

"I'm not in your unit." Alex said. "I was never in your unit. You didn't want me there, I didn't want to be there, and you all forgot about me the first chance you got the same way I forgot about you."

"Alex…" Will started.

"You had no right to pry into my life." Alex said. "You weren't interested in it back then."

"But now we know the truth." Duncan said.

"You could have learned the truth then. You didn't care enough then and I don't care enough now." Alex said.

"They shouldn't be allowed to do this to you." Will supplied. He caught Ben's cringe out of the corner of his eye.

Alex shrugged. "Your right, they shouldn't be allowed. They are though, and you digging in my life doesn't change that."

"But we know -" Luis said.

"And what has that done to help me." Alex said. He ran his hand through his hair. "I can't deal with this right now. I have a meeting to be at in…an hour. I have to get ready."

Will watched him walk out. Tom shook his head. "I tried to warn you."

Luis, however, was over Alex's conversation already. His glare was aimed at Ben. "You agreed to this?"

Ben sighed. "It's out of my hands."

"Don't give me that crap." Luis said.

Ben looked up at Luis with hard eyes. "I did the best I could to lessen the blow."

"How? What did you do to prevent this?" Luis asked.

"Oh fuck you Wolf!" Ben shouted. "You've got no idea the pile of crap you all are stepping in to. Welcome to the party."

Ben stormed out then too. Luis looked at Tom. "Do _you_ know what he did to prevent this? Or is he just talking words?"

Tom put his hands in his pockets. "The Board voted to have his wife killed to show how serious they were about it. Ben put his neck on the line and talked them out of it. Alex could be in a much worse position. And on top of that every time Alex tries to buck off their control it has the chance of backfiring on Ben. Ben doesn't want Alex to know because he knows Alex will see it as MI6 trying to use another person to control him."

Luis cursed loudly. The door opened and Mr. Herbert stepped in. "Excuse me. Now that Agent Rider and Mr. Daniels have left I don't believe any of you have the clearance to continue being in this room. I need to ask you to step out."

He shut the door behind him. K-Unit started to leave but Luis stopped them. "One moment. If Alex doesn't know the risk Ben's taking then he can't curb his anger."

"I know. Ben doesn't want him to." Tom replied.

"What?" Will asked.

Tom shrugged. "He feels guilty."

"That's bull shit." Duncan said. "Surely Alex would understand."

"Alex _would_ understand. That's not the problem. Alex would protect his worst enemy if MI6 went after them. Ben thinks that isn't fair to Alex." Tom said.

"What about Ben?" Luis asked.

Tom shrugged again. "It's not up to me. Ben is a big boy now."

"That's not fair." Duncan said.

"Here's the thing. If Ben tells Alex about sticking his neck out for Eve Alex is going to feel compelled to protect him by doing exactly what MI6 wants." Tom said.

"What's the problem with that?" Duncan asked.

"MI6 has Alex on a very short leash and the more people he has to protect the shorter that leash becomes. Alex is very dangerous and MI6 knows that. If they point at someone and say 'Go get 'em' and he knows Ben and Eve and James' lives hang in the balance he'll go after them without a second thought." Tom said.

"And?" Luis asked.

Will had managed to figure the rest out on his own. "Ben doesn't want Alex to leave a trail of bodies in his path because he was trying to protect Ben."

K-Unit was stunned into silence. Tom shrugged. "Like Ben said, you have no idea the pile of shit you just stepped into."

**Eve POV**

Eve paused for a moment. "How does Alex feel about this?"

"Alex hasn't been informed of my decision. He's an Agent. I do not need to inform him of this." Mrs. Jones said.

"Who are you trying to convince, lady? Us or yourself?" James asked.

Mrs. Jones scowled. Eve shook her head. "Alex wouldn't want this. He's told me about Breacon Beacons."

"Fortunately, Alex doesn't have the authority to stop me. Neither do you." Mrs. Jones said.

Eve frowned. "I'm not going anywhere without Alex knowing."

"Alex will not be contacted and you have no choice in the matter." Mrs. Jones said.

Eve shot out of her seat. "I will not be bullied so that you can continue manipulating my husband."

Mrs. Jones looked over her shoulder and nodded. Eve turned to see what she was looking at and found two men the size of refrigerators behind her. One pulled a gun and fired. There was a sharp sting in her arm. She stayed awake long enough to pull out the little dart and then collapsed into darkness.

**James POV**

James wasted no time watching his mother collapse. He was already out of the room by the time her unconscious body hit the floor. He was not going to have a lot of time before the oversized gorillas in suits caught up with him and he wasn't going with them without supplies. He grabbed his Mom's cell phone from the kitchen and then took off to his bedroom. The pants he'd worn to school were still on the floor. He shoved his hand into the pocket and fished around until he came up with a little scrap of paper. He heard the gorillas stomping through the hall and shoved the phone into his pockets. He took the slip of paper and slid it into his shoe. The gorillas filled up his doorway. He held up his hands. "I'll come quietly."

They didn't care. They shot a dart at him anyways.

**Alex POV**

Alex had managed to pick a cell off one of the agents on his way to his room. He'd dialed the house immediately but got voicemail. It wasn't unlikely that Eve had taken James out for ice cream or such after a bad day, she'd certainly done it before. He considered calling her cell phone but changed his mind. He really _did _have a meeting to get ready for. He took a shower and dressed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and threw a hoodie on over it to combat the slight chill outside. He stepped outside and almost ran into a hurried looking Mrs. Jones. She looked at him and snapped. "Where have you been?"

Alex arched an eyebrow. "Getting ready for my meeting."

"Meeting with who?" She asked.

"Charles Patrick." Alex replied.

"He contacted you already?" Mrs. Jones asked.

"Yes. I thought you knew." Alex said carefully.

"I was out dealing with…a problem. I just got back." Mrs. Jones said.

"A problem?" Alex asked.

"It's really none of your business Agent Rider." Mrs. Jones said.

Alex held up his hands. He enjoyed rankling her but she was certainly pissed right now. Alex wasn't in the mood to find out she'd ordered him beaten because he'd pushed her too hard. Seeing the gleam in her eyes he wouldn't put an ordered beating past her right now. "Don't call me agent."

"You work for MI6 in the field. That makes you an Agent in everyone's book but your own." Mrs. Jones said. She looked him over. "That's what you're wearing to the meeting? Jeans and a sweatshirt?"

"I have a t-shirt underneath." Alex defended. "Besides, I'm going undercover as myself and I wear jeans and t-shirts and sweatshirts."

Mrs. Jones scowled. "Our agents dress well."

"Well in my book I'm not an agent, remember?" Alex said. "Let James Bond wear his tuxes and I'll wear jeans."

Mrs. Jones looked like she might want to say something to that but kept her mouth shut. "Did you get your gadgets from Smithers?"

Alex managed to keep the look of disgust off his face. "No. I don't need them. I've got a gun, it's just a meeting. I'll be fine."

Mrs. Jones frowned. "I'm not sure I like the idea of you going with a gun."

"Oh no, don't you dare start this. I am an adult. I have a permit. My status with MI6 even grants me the right to carry concealed. I will damn well go into this meeting with a gun or I won't go in at all." Alex said firmly.

Mrs. Jones pursed her lips before nodding. "Fine."

Alex checked his watch. "The meeting's in ten minutes, I've got to start heading there now if I'm going to make it on time."

"Go." Mrs. Jones said. "And Alex?"

"What?" He asked.

"Give me Miss Harper's cell phone." She said.

Ten minutes later Alex walked into the little café until he spotted Charles Patrick. He took a seat at the table across from him. Charles arched an eyebrow. "You don't exactly look like a spy."

Charles was dressed in a gray pinstripe suit and a brilliant shade of purple tie. Alex replied, "My job is to blend in. What's your excuse for not looking like the leader of a militia?"

"Fair enough." Charles nodded. He checked his watch. "Punctual. I like that quality in an employee."

"You're getting ahead of yourself Mr. Patrick." Alex said. "I haven't agreed to anything."

"Of course, of course." Charles said. "By the way, please call me Charles."

"Whatever." Alex said.

"I can see you have no delusions about what this meeting is about. The Purity Fighters could use someone with your kind of skills. _I_ could use someone with your kind of skills." Charles said.

"And exactly just what are those skills Charles?" Alex asked.

"Why all of them Alex!" Charles said.

The waitress was in her twenties, pretty, with blonde hair and blue eyes. She was all smiles as she looked at Alex. "Can I get you something?"

"No thank you." Alex replied.

"Are you sure?" The waitress asked.

"Yes, thank you." Alex said.

The waitress walked away having completely ignored Charles. The older man smiled. "That's a talent that would be useful."

"The talent to distract young waitresses?" Alex asked.

"Your charms, Agent Rider, your charms." Charles said. "Of course, you have many other talents that would be useful as well."

"I find that MI6 can find great uses for my talents. I hardly need to find a new job to be used for my spy skills." Alex said.

Charles nodded. "Yes I imagine that. So let's get it all out on the table shall we? I want you to work for me. You need something in order to take the job. What's it going to take for you to come join the Purity Fighters?"

"I want to be making at least what I'm making at MI6." Alex said.

"Done. In fact, I'll even give you five grand more than you're making at MI6. Anything else?" Charles asked.

"Well, since you're being so generous, I want my team to come with me." Alex said.

"Your SAS team?" Charles asked. Alex could see the excitement shining in his eyes. He was eating this up.

"Absolutely. They are the best in their field just like I'm the best in mine. They also share…._similar_ _views_ on your organization." Alex said.

"Deal." Charles said. "Are you prepared to come work for the Purity Fighters?"

Alex smiled and leaned back into his chair. "You could say that."

**Rose Harper POV**

Rose was a new agent. She was fresh meat. The newbie. The rookie. It wasn't a new thing for her, it wasn't a surprise. It did happen to be a pain in the butt from time to time but for the most part the whole MI6 deal was surprise after surprise and many times they were good surprises. Rose was not the only new agent. She, along with three other hopefuls, had made it to agent status after a lot of hard work and good luck. She had been the only female. The rookies were always stationed in the same hall and it happened to be that at the end of the rookie hallway there was a lounge like area that the rookies tended to hang out in when not busy doing something else. Rose had rushed to get them all into the lounge to talk about the biggest surprise she'd discovered yet: Alex Rider.

One of the young men was Anthony Gates. Anthony was tall and handsome and charming and perfect for the espionage world. He wasn't hardened to the world yet. "Rose, what's this all about?"

"I met him today." Rose said.

"Who?" Martin Roberts asked. Martin was average height and looks and tended to excel more with technology than the traditional espionage skills.

"Alex Rider." Rose said.

"He doesn't exist." Anthony replied, rolling his eyes.

"Good grief, Rose, you ushered us all down here for that?" The last man went by the name Frank. He'd told them his last name was Josephs but admitted that he'd changed it from something else. He was an only child from America who was perfect for the espionage world just like Anthony.

"No. It's true. I stopped him in the hallway and asked." Rose said.

"How do you know he was telling the truth?" Frank asked.

"Well, he looked just like Agent Harris had said he would and he knew about Cub." Rose defended. "It _was_ him."

"Well then, what was he like?" Martin asked.

"He was cool. Like James Bond or something. I only got to talk to him for a little while before he had to go somewhere else. I bet he was really busy." Rose said.

"I thought Agent Harris said Rider was dead." Frank pushed.

"I guess he was wrong. Or maybe he was lying. Or maybe Alex faked his death. Or maybe-" Rose said.

"Or maybe this guy was lying." Anthony said. Rose glared at him. "Rose, the chances that you meant the legendary Alex Rider alive when even Agent Harris didn't know are pretty slim."

Rose shot out of her seat. "You think I'm naïve or stupid but I know it was him. I'm going to prove it to you too."

"Oh boy." Anthony said.

Martin leaned over to him. "We're gonna have to help her aren't we."

**AN: I, personally, like this chapter. It's okay if you don't. You could tell me in a review. In fact, I'm going to leave a challenge for you. If you've managed to make it to the last bit of author's note then click on that button below. I challenge you to tell me one thing you liked and/or one thing you didn't like. If you want to write more, great, but at the very least tell me one thing you liked and one thing you didn't. Thank you.**


	7. SAS

**AN: I'm having one of those days where I don't know what to say. Although, I **_**did**_ **get a 29 on my ACT. For those of you who don't know what that is it is a test that determines what college I can get into. The valedictorian of our junior class only got a 27, so there!**

**Disclaimer: Call me Anthony Horowitz at your own peril. Read at your own risk. You may suffer from painful stomach cramps due to laughing.**

**Thank You's:**

**2whitie – Mrs. Jones should start her obituary now. I can see her tombstone in my head. It does not say, She will be greatly missed. I'm glad James is still funny. I was worried that as I aged him you, the readers, would like him less. It's not so much that he has lost his humor just that his humor is changing. By the way, how's K-Unit doing? Are they staying in character?**

**Albany – Well, MI6 is notorious for putting people in bad situations. It would not surprise me that the conspiracy has put a leash on the deputy himself. Ben, I always thought, liked Alex. Now that he's a part of what is being done to Alex I can see him trying to protect him. I really hope that you love to hate the new MI6 and not hate the idea of it.**

**Getsumen Kage no Mai – Of course Alex has fans! And his fan club isn't to-be…it's reality. It consists of me as the president….you can be vice president. Everyone in the entire world is the followers. And we will have our cult and take over the world and train our OWN teenage spies and…cough, cough. What was I saying? Oh right, I would **_**so**_** take a shot at Mrs. Jones if she was real.**

**Jellie Smiff – I'm glad you personally like this chapter because it **_**is**_** a pretty awesome chapter. I'm not sure how awesome my grammar is but I'll take the compliment anyways. Thanks for your review, hope you keep them coming.**

**MonssterUnderYourBed – I figured that if I put the little fact in there about it being Rose's phone he stole some observant people like you would get it and if other people didn't, well, that was okay. I'm impressed that you caught it though. As for chapter endings, Chapter 6 came out as a total of 4000 plus words. I'm not sure I could have pushed it any farther without people getting annoyed. I usually total out at 3000 to 3500 for chapter length. I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter though.**

**James POV**

James woke up with the cell phone gone from his pocket. A part of him had expected the phone to be gone. You could only count on gorillas to be stupid to a point, not patting down prisoners would be that point. He rolled his heel around in his shoe and felt the little piece of paper. Searching shoes was not at that point apparently. Good. He didn't want to open his eyes. As long as he was seemingly asleep he could obtain information about his surroundings without having to deal with his captors. Dad had taught him that. The room was mostly silent with the soft sound of breathing and the pitter-patter of rain outside. The air was chilly but not cold and whatever he was laying on had the flexibility of a bed without the comfort. "He's awake."

James recognized that they spoke about him and forwent his sleep act. He popped open his eyes and sat up. The two men in the room with him were immediately recognized despite the two years. "Cheetah! Panther! What are you doing here?"

Cheetah looked at Panther and then back at James. He crossed his arms over his chest. "Actually, we could ask the same about you."

**Rose Harper POV**

"How are you Agent Crawley?" Rose asked. Her friends and fellow rookies stood behind her trying to maintain the image that this had nothing to do with them.

Richard Crawley looked at her over the rim of his glasses. "Agent Hopper right?"

Rose blushed. "Harper actually."

"Of course." Richard said. There was silence. "Well?"

"Where is Agent Rider staying?" Rose asked.

Richard arched a brow. "I would think that now that you're an agent, _Miss_ Harper, you could abandon silly legends."

"I know he's here Agent Crawley sir. I spoke with him." Rose said hesitantly.

Richard waved her off. "Likely a bored agent pranking the rookies. I wouldn't think anything of it."

Rose chewed her lip. This felt off. It all felt off. She nodded. "Of course, sorry to take up your time."

Rose walked into the hallway and the three men trailed behind her. Martin sighed. "I'm really glad you've decided to give this up Rose."

"I haven't." Rose replied.

"You haven't?" Martin asked.

"I haven't." Rose affirmed. "Agent Crawley is lying."

"How can you tell?" Anthony asked.

Rose ignored him. "I've got another idea."

**Duncan POV**

By the time Alex returned Duncan and K-Unit had found their way back to the gym. Tom was with them but Ben hadn't come back to join them. Duncan wasn't surprised. Will and Luis were on the mats, sparring, and Tom and Duncan had taken to taking turns with the punching bag. Little was spoken. Nothing was said about the conversation in the Ghost Room. The gym was strangely quiet with only the sound of fist hitting flesh and fist hitting leather, heavy breathing and a rare curse when a punch landed. The door to the gym opened. Will turned to look allowing Wolf's fist to connect with his jaw. Duncan ran over. "You fine?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Will said. He glared at Luis. "You sucker punched me."

Luis shrugged. "It was too late to stop at that point."

"I see you've taken to beating the shit out of each other since I left." Alex said.

Tom laughed. "_They _have, but they're all too scared of me to try."

Alex laughed heartily and then gave them a confused look when none of K-Unit did. He frowned. "Did I miss something?"

K-Unit was not a bunch of spies. They were soldiers, damn fine soldiers but soldiers nonetheless. Unlike Alex and Tom they were not used to hiding emotions. They looked away and scratched their necks and fidgeted and gave away just about every sign of guilt possible. Tom kept a smile plastered to his face. "Nope, except the six or seven hits Eagle got on Wolf before you came in."

The lie was smooth, Duncan had to give the agent that much. Unfortunately, Tom could have all the confidence in the world and K-Unit would still look guilty. Maybe Alex assumed the problem was between K-Unit or maybe he assumed it had something to do with his earlier conversation or maybe he was just rowing the river of denial but whatever his reasoning he slapped on a smile and shrugged. "Wish I could've seen it."

"Yeah, and I got them in fair and square. Not when he was looking away." Will said getting into the new mood.

Luis snorted. "You looked away when a door opened. A real soldier could've assessed threats."

Will crossed his arms over his chest. "The more imperative threat came from something I couldn't see and not my Unit leader."

"Never assume anything." Luis replied.

"We _are_ in MI6 headquarters." Tom said.

There was a pause and then Alex said. "Is that supposed to make us feel better?"

**Alex POV**

"Are we all in?" Mrs. Jones asked.

Alex nodded. "Every single one of us. Well, except Tom."

Tom shrugged. "That's cool. I'll stay in the outpost by myself. As long as I don't have to deal with Alex's snoring."

Alex scowled. "I do not snore."

Tom snorted. "Right."

Mrs. Jones cleared her throat to regain control. "Anyways, we're going to send Luis down to Smithers for some mission preparation and then you'll be free to spend your remaining time here doing whatever you like until, you said the day after tomorrow right?"

Alex nodded. "Yep. He'll have someone to meet us and take us to the base."

Luis frowned. "Why am I the only one who needs mission preparation?"

"This is a white supremacy group." Mrs. Jones replied. At Luis' blank stare she explained further. "You look like a Spaniard, not Aryan."

Luis glared at Alex. Alex arched an eyebrow. "What?"

"You're perfect." Luis replied.

Alex choked a little and gave him a boyish half-smile. "Um, I appreciate the compliment but I'm already married."

Luis didn't even blush. "You're blonde and blue eyed and pale."

"I am not pale. And my eyes are grey, not blue." Alex replied.

Tom examined his face. "They're kind of a bluish-grey."

"And you _are_ kind of pale." Will said.

"I was tan in Los Angeles." Alex grumbled.

Mrs. Jones' eyes rolled heavenward as if seeking guidance. After a moment she looked back at them. "Luis, go to Smithers. The rest of you report to dinner where Luis will meet you. After that do whatever the hell you want as long as you stay out of my office and off of the top floor."

They all stood up and filed out of the office. Only one thought ran through Alex's head.

What was on the top floor?

**Eve POV**

Eve had never been a particularly heavy drinker. She'd been so busy getting through college and then moving up the ranks in her career to ever focus on partying and when she decided to get out of the workforce and stay home to take care of James she'd decided she was too old to party. However, there had been that party with her friends on her twenty-first birthday where her friends had demanded she drink until she passed out, and she had. It had been tons of fun that night but the headache she received in the morning for her troubles just hadn't been worth it. That was how she felt now, though; like she had the headache from hell. Her last moments awake filled her head. Mrs. Jones and her threats and James and getting shot with the dart.

Eve opened her eyes and sat up. James was on a cot similar to her own talking with two very familiar looking people. "You two!"

Cheetah jumped out of his chair. "Mrs. Rider! You're up!"

Eve glared daggers at him. "What the hell are we doing here?"

Cheetah looked around, possibly assessing potential ammunition she might use against him. Panther laughed. "Don't worry Cheetah. We don't keep the Harry Potter books here."

"Look Mrs. Rider, this wasn't our idea." Cheetah said. "We're just following orders."

"I don't give a shit what your orders were." Eve said. She thought about that and sighed. "Actually, what exactly are your orders?"  
><strong>Alex POV<strong>

"Whose brilliant idea was this?" Will asked.

"Mine." Luis replied. He'd returned from Smithers' office already shades lighter although it would continue to grow lighter with the second treatment. His hair was a dark tan color but far from the original coal black color. "Do you have a problem with that?"

Will sighed. "No."

"_I_ have a problem with it." Alex mumbled, but no one heard him. The SAS had their own version of team bonding activities, one of which had been the Killing House. A horrible idea made worse by horrible Unit mates. Luis had thought it a brilliant idea to kick Alex onto a trip wire so that he caused them to lose. Alex was wary of a repeat. Louder he said, "I don't like this."

"Don't like what?" Duncan asked.

Alex didn't like any of it but he was currently speaking about one thing specifically. "I don't like this layout."

"You picked the layout." Luis said through grated teeth.

"I don't like this layout and this group." Alex clarified.

"Then why did you pick it?" Will asked.

"Because I liked the other layouts and this group even less." Alex said.

"What don't you like about this layout and this group Alex?" Duncan asked.

Alex shot a quick look at Luis and then looked back to Duncan. "Tripwires."

Will laughed and shrugged. "It's okay. SAS trains us how to spot tripwires."

Luis looked away and Alex forced a smile on his face. "Of course. No biggie."

Duncan frowned. "You wouldn't have brought it up if it wasn't a big deal."

"No, it's cool." Alex pushed.

Will frowned as well. "Hey, if something's wrong you can tell us."

"I just, don't like tripwires." Alex said.

"Well no one likes tripwires, but you had to have known we dealt with tripwires." Duncan said.

"In fact, we dealt with tripwires back in training when you were there." Will said.

Duncan laughed. "Yeah, the Killing House. Didn't you trip on a tripwire and lose for us?"

Alex shifted. "Yep."

Will laughed. "Yeah, I can see why you don't like tripwires."

"He didn't trip." Luis said.

"Of course he did." Duncan said.

"I knocked him into it." Luis replied. "He didn't trip."

"You knocked him-Jesus Christ Luis! What the hell for?" Will asked.

Luis shrugged. "He was a snot nosed kid and I felt he didn't deserve to be there."

Duncan shook his head. "We were all kids back then."

Alex shrugged it off. "It's not a big deal. It was a long time ago."

"It is a big deal Alex." Luis said. "You're supposed to be able to trust your Unit. We sure haven't shown you a reason for you to trust us."

Alex sighed. "I trust you guys."

"Why?" Duncan asked.

"Why?" Alex repeated. "Because I have to. Whether I like it or not, we are all about to go undercover together and I won't be able to do it all on my own."

Alex looked down. "And as you all now know, MI6 isn't giving me the choice to pick and choose anything right now. So I will get over my issues and make this work so at the end of the day I can go home."

"Look Alex-" Luis started.

Alex stopped him with a hand motion and a grim smile. "Don't ruin it. Let's just get through this and be done. I really, _really_ don't want to talk about any of this with you guys. No offense."

"Sure." Will said.

**Eve POV**

Cheetah and Panther had explained the best they could having only been given orders and not information.

"That's all that soldiers get." Panther had said. "Orders."

Eve had not been thrilled to find out that for the duration of Alex's mission she and James would be stuck in Breacon Beacons or as Alex called it, Hell. Panther and Cheetah had been brutally honest about everything. Their orders had been vague about the process but the goal was specific. The original SAS training process would be tailored to be better for a woman and a ten year old boy and by the time Alex got back from his mission Eve and James were to be able to fully take care of themselves in a fight.

Eve collapsed into a chair. "This is…insane."

"Look, I won't lie. This kind of training is difficult for grown men. Men who joined the army and were the best of the best." Panther said. "I can't baby you along. It would go against orders. I can't change the process they set up for you. It would go against orders."

Eve looked at Panther through watery eyes and glared. "So the SAS is just as bad as MI6."

Panther sighed and looked away. Cheetah put his hand on her shoulder. "These orders came from MI6."

"What?" Eve asked.

Cheetah sighed. "Right now MI6 has the SAS by the short hairs. No one knows what they've got on them and no one knows why but for right now, MI6 is running things."

**Rose Harper POV**

Rose had travelled four blocks on foot, ten by cab, and then walked another three on foot to get to a pay phone in the middle of nowhere. MI6 had taught her that she had to find a secure phone that people wouldn't track; her father actually showed her how to do it. She dialed the number and waited for it to ring. She looked around her and found no one there. Empty street. Her fellow rookies following her would have made too much of a scene so she decided to come alone.

Her father picked up on the second ring. "This is Harper."

"Hi Dad. It's me." Rose said.

"Rose! How good to hear from you." He said.

"I need some help." Rose said.

She could hear him frown on the other end. "Is everything alright?"

"I'm fine. I need some information that I'm hoping you can get from your job." Rose said.

"There's only so much I can give you." He said. "But what can I do for you."

"Well, you're the Sergeant in charge of SAS. Surely you know something about Alex Rider." Rose said.

**AN: So, a couple things to mention. First of all, my mother inspired me with an idea last night that would make a great sequel to this. Would anyone be interested in a third story? Also, I've come up with a fair compromise. I will always no matter what every time post weekly. That's going to be a given. However, if I get thirteen reviews (because thirteen is my lucky number) I'll post the chapter that day. I can do that this time around because I am ahead by two chapters and plan on staying that way. So remember, always weekly updates but thirteen reviews will get an update faster and tell me if a sequel sounds good and for Peter, Paul, John, and Lupe's sake…tell me what you thought of the chapter! That is all.**


	8. Tom Harris

**AN: Sequel? No sequel? I have inspiration but if no one's interested I won't bother.**

**Disclaimer: I'm going to take a stand. Alex Rider **_**is**_** mine.**

**Review Responses (Because I don't always say thank you):**

**MonssterUnderYourBed – I'm almost positive his eyes are grey. That's what Wikipedia says and I'm sticking with it. I wasn't sure about writing a sequel but we'll see. The fact that Rose's father is the Sergeant will definitely come into play later. Glad you enjoyed!**

**2whitie – Thank you for all of your compliments. I know that there is quite a bit of leeway when it comes to K-Unit but I don't want to push the limits too far. I just want to make them real, not 2D characters that can't make it off the page. MI6 has lots of problems, but right now the Board is running things and if they had a problem with Mrs. Jones she'd be gone. Of course, you've never met the Board so you don't know their angle. **_**I **_**don't know their angle and I invented them! I'm glad you still like James, he's still my favorite character.**

**Getsumen Kage no Mai – I'm particular to knives when it comes to torture but you can get as creative as you want. If we're gonna torture Jones we should have free creative reign. My parents are hardly supportive (it's often go clean room, go clean kitchen, go clean cat) but they **_**are**_** inspiring. Sometimes they say things and I realize, oh!, that would be great for a book. Mom likes James though, so she supports a sequel and I have something of my own in my head so, we'll see. **

**all4dobby – OMG! A new reviewer! Thanks for the congrats! I also wish there were more Alex Rider future fics and if you happen to know of a really good one please send me the link. I think I get a pretty decent audience size but thus far they haven't been that hard to write. Thanks again.**

**Jellie Smiff – Glad you liked the chapter. I know that the ridiculousness of having codenames and real names and chapter names and all that fun stuff can get confusing so here it is: Luis/Wolf, Duncan/Snake, Will/Eagle. Ben is obviously Fox and Alex is Cub. If you have any more questions feel free to point it out. Thanks for the review!**

**Tom POV**

The team building exercise Luis had roped them all into had finished fairly quickly and without too much conversation. They'd finished without any more mention of Alex's unusual predicament and then they'd retired to their rooms. Tom and Alex were still sharing a room and they were both lying there in the dark. Tom wasn't sleeping and he could tell Alex wasn't either. Still, "Are you awake Alex?"

Alex sighed. "Yeah."

There was silence. "Can't sleep?"

Alex sighed again. "Yeah."

Tom frowned in the darkness. "Is everything okay?"

"I could ask you the same thing. You're up too." Alex said. There was a pause. "Tom, why did you join MI6?"

"What?" Tom asked.

"Why, after everything that happened to me, why did you chose to join MI6?" Alex asked.

Tom sighed. He'd figured this conversation would come up sooner or later. He'd been hoping for later. "It wasn't the original plan."

"What was the original plan?" Alex asked.

Tom sighed again. "There really wasn't an original plan. I did decent on my tests and decided to join the army. I showed a knack for that and joined the SAS. I made a…bad decision, and landed on MI6's radar. It all just happened. It wasn't a choice exactly."

"Why didn't you turn them down?" Alex asked. "I just don't understand your choice."

"It's kind of a long story Alex." Tom said.

"You tired?" Alex asked suddenly.

Tom shot him a confused look that he couldn't see in the dark. "No."

"Me either. Guess you've got plenty of time to tell me." Alex said.

Tom sighed again. "It was all pretty normal up until getting picked by MI6."

"Okay. So you joined the army, made it into SAS, and then what?" Alex asked.

_Tom had been still pretty young. Even though the SAS men were usually a couple years older than the rest of the army they were usually only in their mid-twenties. Tom had been even younger having been pulled up for his show of bravery. It had really been sheer luck. He'd been shoved into D-Unit and grew into a wonderful team. Several years had passed since the death of his best friend and for the most part he had forgotten him. Oh, every once in a while he would see or hear or even smell something that created a vague memory of Alex but those moments were few and rare and Tom had to admit he was okay with that._

_SAS men worked hard and often and very rarely were they given rests or breaks but when they did get those kinds of things they made the most of it. The trainees were pretty close to the end of their training and someone up in the SAS chain of command had considered that worth celebrating with a day off from the constant work and effort they usually put forth. That person, in the trainees' minds, probably deserved their own monument. The day had mostly been football games and Frisbee and general horsing around. It culminated in a bonfire of epic proportions with all the trainees and the fully ranked men sitting around it singing drinking songs and telling jokes that could only be told in a group like this. Jokes not appropriate for other ears. One trainee, a trainee by the codename of Shark if Tom remembered correctly, was a legacy. His father had been a member of the previous generation and a member of SAS. The father's tongue had been loose enough to let slip a couple of the urban legends that tended to fly around bonfires such as this one and Shark was one to brag about such things. "Hey Sarge! Why don't you tell us about Cub?"_

_A total of six men stopped laughing around the campfire. One was the Sergeant himself, four were a visiting Unit that happened to hear young Shark's shout out, and the other was the young trainee Falcon. All six men had met young Cub, who had definitely not been an urban legend. Only Falcon had known him as Alex Rider. The Sergeant turned to Shark. "Where'd you hear about Cub?"_

_Shark laughed it off. "A bird told me."_

"_Has anyone else heard the story of Cub?" The Sergeant's voice boomed out through the crowd._

_Silence settled throughout the crowd. There were two Units visiting Breacon Beacons. One was K-Unit and the other was C-Unit. K-Unit had intimate knowledge of Cub and knew better than to speak up. C-Unit remember the kid known as Cub and an elbow from Snake told them to keep their mouths shut. No one spoke up. The Sergeant laughed. "Well then I guess I'd better tell the story."_

_There were cheers all around as everyone set in for another urban legend from SAS. Tom reflected that they acted much like summer camp children this way, ready to disbelieve everything that was about to come out of the Sergeant's mouth. "A ways back in time, but not too far back-I was old even then…"_

_A couple of laughs shook from the crowd. The Sergeant waited for them to quiet before continuing. "We were delivered a child. I consider you all children because none of you can remember a time without internet but this was a real child no older than fourteen. And this child was given to us with the sole intention that when he was taken back he would be trained to SAS standards."_

"_I scoffed at the idea. This was a teenager and teenagers are notorious for everything they do for all the wrong reasons. Teenagers in my mind were petty and pathetic and useless. Teenagers were not meant for SAS." The Sergeant said. "I was prepared for a boy who would be young and short and underweight and irresponsible. I was prepared for a child who wanted to be here as much as I wanted him to be here. And I got exactly that. I got a teenager."_

"_We dumped the child on a Unit we trusted not to kill him while he slept and watched for him to fail." The Sergeant smiled and looked around. "Would any have you watch him fail?"_

_A couple laughs and half-hearted hands were raised. The Sergeant went on. "He didn't fail. He didn't struggle. He succeeded, hell, he thrived. He surpassed every member of SAS we had. When the members would run 5 kilometers in eight minutes he would run 8 kilometers in six. When my soldiers lifted a twenty pound pack he would lift a thirty pound pack. He scaled walls like a monkey and ran like a cheetah and managed to do the impossible. A true boy wonder. Our Cub would go on to save the world hundreds of times with his Unit."_

"_Is he still alive?" One of the trainees asked._

_The Sergeant shrugged. "Who knows?"_

_Shark just laughed. "You dimwit! He's not even real!"_

_There was general laughing and carrying on and jokes made at the expense of the legendary Cub but six people didn't partake in that. Six people were lost in the past. Six people were wondering what exactly had become of Cub. Only Falcon decided to find out. That conviction lasted for about an hour and then he found himself a part of the joking and laughing and the conversation again. It was the last time he'd even think about Cub for almost a year._

"I never did any of that." Alex said.

"You're interrupting my story." Tom said.

"But it was all a lie." Alex said.

Tom disagreed. "It was an exaggeration. You may not have surpassed them but you met them at their level."

"Concessions were made for me." Alex said.

"You were fourteen!" Tom said.

"Your legend is crap." Alex pushed.

Tom sighed. "I'm not going to argue with you about this."

"Excuse me?" Alex said.

"Do you want me to finish the story or not?" Tom asked.

There was a moment of silence and then Alex sighed. "Yeah, finish the story."

Tom smiled. Alex was always a sucker to his curiosity.

_In fact, Falcon wouldn't think of Alex at all until he was a full-fledged member of the SAS. He'd been on two missions and was involved in one battle when his fellow Unit member, Rhino, received news that his cousin's teenage son had been killed in a gang shooting. Rhino hadn't been real close to the deceased or his cousin and hadn't been particularly broken up about it past the usual death in the family gloom. He'd told his Unit in a somber mood and then proceeded to tell them that if the kid had made a bad choice joining a gang in the first place. It was that brutal honesty that made his codename so apt. Falcon, however, made the leap from one kid in a bad situation to a kid in a bad situation a very long time ago. That was the second time Falcon's thoughts had jumped to Alex and he remembered his decision to find out what had happened to the young man. There wasn't much Falcon could do as he was currently stationed in the middle of the desert but this time thoughts of Alex did not leave him. He remembered his decision to the day he came home and he knew he would have to follow through. Alex deserved that much._

_There had been a couple months after Alex's final disappearance where Falcon had turned dark. He had made some bad decisions in his youth and sought to strike out at everyone. He hadn't been particularly intimidating physically and he hadn't had a lot of family to strike out at emotionally so he settled for finding something mental and chose his one talent: computers. Falcon had taught himself to be a hacker and it turned out he was pretty good at it. Once he got himself off the ground he found a few online mentors to tutor him and then built on what they had taught him. In some circles he became quite well known. Falcon probably had the talent to do some serious damage to a lot of people. Maybe he even could have done it. His old friend, however, would have disapproved. He didn't hack too often and never if it could hurt someone else._

_That hacking ability was about to come in serious handy as he sat down in front of his laptop and tried to talk himself into hacking the MI6 database. Eventually he did talk himself into, for Alex's sake, and stole his way in. The search was tremendously difficult with so many files and many of them were under layer after layer of classification. Every page was password coded and firewalled. Nothing was what it looked like and everything was coded for alarm. After four days of almost constant work Falcon found Alex's file. He took every precaution to open it…and it gave MI6 a warning anyways. After four days without being spotted in MI6's database he was spotted. Seven minutes had MI6 at his door._

"Seriously?" Alex asked.

"What?" Tom asked.

Alex chuckled. "You're a hacker?"

Tom grinned. "I'm a reformed hacker."

"Yeah." Alex said. Tom could practically hear him rolling his eyes. "Just like I'm a reformed spy."

"I guess we could really blame my joining MI6 on you." Tom said.

"How so?" Alex asked.

"You'll see." Tom replied.

_Royal and General Bank. Falcon was carted up the elevator and dropped off in a sparse office with a potted plant and not much else. The woman in the office offered him a peppermint, which he declined. "What am I doing here?"_

_The woman sucked on the peppermint as if in thought before answering. "I'm having a really bad day Mr. Harris."_

_Falcon was unused to being called by his real name but allowed for the drop of formalities. "Call me Tom."_

"_Tom then, would you like to know why I'm having a bad day?" The woman asked._

_Tom actually really didn't particularly care. Lots of people had bad days. "Sure."_

"_Last night my second in command was killed in an assassination, two missions failed in the last week, and now some SAS hacker is digging through things that should have been left alone." She said._

_Tom sat for a moment unsure what to say. "Sorry?"_

"_I don't want to you to be sorry. I want you to have not done it. However, it can't be undone. It can only be corrected." The woman said. "My name is Mrs. Jones."_

"_Pleasure." Tom said, although he wasn't quite sure it was._

"_I am Mrs. Jones and I am Director of MI6. I've been Director for quite some time and in all that time there have been many attempts to hack the MI6 database. Why? Because that's what the people we go up against do. They try and cause problems. I have seen men with millions of dollars, computer scientists, and the most sophisticated systems go up against the MI6 database. Do you know what they had in common?"_

"_No." Tom replied._

"_They lost." Mrs. Jones said. "MI6 is very good at protecting their assets."_

"_Okay." Tom said._

"_But you got through. You, on your own, with just a supermarket bought laptop. You got through." Mrs. Jones said. She shook her head. "Your tenacity reminds me very much of someone else."_

"_Okay." Tom said._

"_Although this may seem very unconventional, I'd like to offer you a job." Mrs. Jones said._

_Tom knew all about MI6 jobs though. "Actually, I don't think so."_

_Mrs. Jones eyebrows shot up in surprise. Tom got the feeling she didn't experience that emotion often. "I am grateful for your offer but I must decline. I would prefer to work with SAS."_

_Mrs. Jones pursed her lips. "I'm sorry you feel that way. I was hoping this could all be done nice and easy."_

_Mrs. Jones folded her hands on her desk. "Although you did not succeed in your goal you did manage to hack a government database. That is illegal Mr. Harris. I'm afraid that if you do not come to work for MI6 we'll have to report your transgression to the SAS. You likely won't get any jail time but I would certainly expect a dishonorable discharge."_

_This was the MI6 Alex had been talking about. Tom sighed and nodded. "Deal."_

"Those-those-" Alex started.

"I think the word you're looking for here is assholes." Tom supplied.

"They blackmailed you just like they blackmailed me!" Alex said.

Tom shrugged. "It's not a big deal. It was actually a really good decision for me. Oh, the danger is high and the pay is not what it could be but I like being a spy."

Alex was silent. "You do?"

"Sure. I like this stuff. I wouldn't have been thrilled to do it at fourteen but I'm glad I'm doing it now." Tom said. "I'm not going to lie and say it's always great but what job is. I could be much worse off."

"But you could be much better." Alex said.

Tom snorted. "Most people never get the job of their dreams Alex. I'm not even sure what my dream is."

Alex couldn't keep from snickering. "That's real deep mate."

Tom felt a grin creep onto his face. "Oh shut the hell up!"

Alex chuckled and then fell silent. "Do you think I made the right choice?"

Tom frowned. "I don't understand. You really didn't have much of a choice. You either came on this mission…or else."

Alex sighed. "I'm not talking about now. I'm talking about then."

Tom knew what he meant. The demands had been much more lenient back then. "I'm sure of it."

"What makes you so sure Tom?" Alex asked.

Tom sat up on the bed and looked over in the direction of Alex's bed. There were no windows and the light was off so he couldn't see Alex. He could imagine it though. Alex on his back with his hands under his head and his knees pulled up; just like back then. Some things just didn't change. "I'm sure because you saved all those people."

"What people Tom?" Alex said.

"Everyone! Bloody hell, Alex, all the people who could've been harmed by one of those attacks that you prevented." Tom said. "You know you how many people you saved."

"Why did those events only happen when I was working for them?" Alex pushed. "Seven times the world needed saving and I was the only one to do it and then when I quit, what, there just happens to be no more problems?"

Tom considered the question. It was a valid question. It had an obvious answer. "The world didn't stop needing saving. Look at what happened to the World Trade Towers in New York City. Look at the war in the Middle East. Look at the nuclear reaction problems in Japan. The problems are still there, Alex, you just aren't there to stop them."

"Why should I have to stop them?" Alex asked.

"Why should an Olympic swimmer swim?" Tom asked. "Because it was born in them."

"Who says?" Alex asked.

"You say so Alex. You admitted that there were a couple of times when MI6 didn't tell you to save the world and you still did." Tom said.

"Only because no one else was going to." Alex explained.

Tom shook his head. "Well then, there you go."

"What?" Alex asked.

"There's your answer to the question of whether you did the right thing back then." Tom said. "You made the right decision to put all those people before you back then because if you hadn't, no one would have."

"But that decision didn't just cost me it cost my family." Alex said.

"I'd place good bets that your family is stronger than you think." Tom said. "You say you don't know the people you saved? What about them?"

"What about them?" Alex asked.

"Didn't you save their lives?" Tom asked.

Alex was silent after that and eventually, Tom fell asleep.

**AN: I'm sure that's not what you were expecting for a chapter but I wanted to tell Tom's story. It's interesting, at least it's interesting to me. I like Tom. He's interesting. You know what else is interesting? Reviews. Click the button. You know you want to. (And even if you don't want to, **_**I**_** want you to. I need you to. Reviews inspire me. They give me ideas.)**


	9. Kevin Sprintz

**AN: OMG. I started NaNoWriMo and did not realize it was so time consuming. Anyways, I'm not going to finish on time so I stopped that and decided to come back to you guys and beg on my knees for your forgiveness. Of course, the longer I took the more reviews I got but I'm back on a schedule. Sorry for the wait.**

**Disclaimer: I'm never writing another one of these again. If you can't figure it out then my writing one isn't going to help.**

**2whitie: Thank you for your recommendations. It's a good catch phrase. It makes me laugh. I always make myself laugh. I think I'm hilarious. The rest of you may roll your eyes at my lame jokes but I laugh until I cry. Anywho, I'm glad someone else likes Tom.**

**JellieButtons25: Flashbacks are never a favorite of mine. I think they can be disruptive. However, sometimes they are necessary. Like last chapter, would any of you really been happy without hearing Tom's story?**

**Getsumen Kage no Mai: I'll take inspiration anywhere I can get it, even if it comes in the form of a screaming crying cat. WARNING! Cats don't like water. That's all I have to say on that subject. I'm not sure whether that's a compliment or an insult but from the way I see it, there are some fates worse than death. Torture is one and, in my opinion, blackmail is another. Not normal blackmail but definitely the blackmail MI6 puts Alex through. Alex is the type of free spirit who needs to make his own choices and MI6 has always taken those choices away. When I blacken MI6 in my story it usually comes in the form of Alex rationalizing it. He sees them as the ultimate evil and therefore you must see them that way too.**

**MonssterUnderYourBed: It's not so much the content of the review, although I **_**do**_** love specifics, as much as the fact that a reader took the time to tell me in words that my story was good. You see, I can read my story and laugh until my sides are in pain and I can get all the kicks in the world from my own writing, but writing is only worth it if you share it with someone else. I love writing and I love reading and I know they don't exist without each other. To be a good reader you have to let the writer know what they're doing right and what they're doing wrong. To be a good writer you have to let the reader know that's what they're supposed to be doing.**

**Albany: If reyeno is an English word, I don't know it. I'm glad you liked this chapter. I also liked your use of the word episode in this. These stories, in the way that they're posted weekly or biweekly on Fanfiction is kind of like a new episode coming out; you get a piece of the story and then you're left to wait. Tom does deserve a story and I hope that in your eyes I provided one worthy of him.**

**all4dobby: I love sequels too. I'm not sure how often Tom will appear in the sequel but I have a brilliant idea that came from NaNoWriMo so I hope you all like it.**

**riderfan215: First and foremost, I do think he's black. I'm not sure where I said he was white but I think he's black. Second of all, the sequel is still to be an Alex Rider future fic BUT (dun dun dun) there **_**will**_** be a James Rider story after that. I've been planning that story since halfway through Where Others Fail. I'm hope you'll be happy with those results.**

**Luis POV**

Luis had always been happy with his dark skin. In England where most people tended towards the pale side of things Luis had adopted a sort of bad boy look. Ladies loved a bad boy. He didn't feel any less of a person because he was darker than his coworkers. Now, he was barely a shade or two darker. The stuff Smithers had used to make Luis lighter had done wonders and would stay that way for over a month. It was unusually weird to be blending in so well with his unit; when one becomes so accustomed to sticking out he suddenly sticks out by blending in. It was slightly mind-bending. Of course, it didn't help that his unit continually shot looks at him when they thought he wasn't looking. Alex seemed to be the only one who didn't care about Luis' change of skin color. He would glance at him every once in a while but it had the appearance of a leader taking stock of his unit.

Tom's voice came on the line, "If you'll all stop checking out Wolf please? Keep acting like this and Patrick's gonna think something's up."

"Oh, lay off of them Tom. They don't go undercover all the time," Alex said.

"Neither do you," Tom replied, "In fact, the last time you went undercover was how long ago?"

"Two years," Alex said.

"And before that?" Tom asked.

"Fifteen years," Alex said.

"And just so we're all clear," Tom continued, "How did your last mission end?"

"Successfully," Alex replied.

"That's not what I meant," Tom said.

Alex shrugged even though Tom couldn't see it, "That's all I care about."

"Really?" Tom asked.

For the first time since they'd made their way all the way out here Alex squirmed, "Yes, success means we all get to go home happy."

Luis was highly aware, and would wager a guess that the rest of K-Unit was highly aware as well, that Alex squirming was a good sign you'd jumped on the subject of his family, the blackmail scheme, or both. This was a both, and Luis decided to change the subject, "So, let me get this straight. These little ear buds are to _always_ be in our ears?"

"Yes," Tom replied.

"Like, always always?" Eagle asked. That had been a requirement for the mission. K-Unit, with the exception of Alex, got to use their code names. Personally, Luis thought it was a relief to go by Wolf again. So many names get thrown in and he started losing track.

"Yes, always," Tom said, "As in, every minute of every day."

"What about when I'm doing my business?" Snake asked.

"I promise you it's something I've been doing all my life and at this point it's nothing I haven't seen and heard done before," Tom said. Luis could hear the smirk in his voice.

Alex grinned, "Well, what if Wolf goes out to a bar in search of a beautiful woman–"

"And manages to catch a horrible, dreadful, fat woman–" Snake interrupted.

Eagle interrupted him, "Which is a miracle all on its own–"

"And this horrible, dreadful, fat woman decides to lower herself down to sleep with Wolf–" Snake said.

"Yeah," Alex said, "What about then?"

Tom was silent for a moment and then replied, "Then I'll have to disinfect the ear bud on my end and probably my ears."

Luis scowled. It was a scowl that would have made quite a few grown men think twice about laughing but only made K-Unit and Alex laugh harder, "Oh, grow up! All of you!"

"I thought Patrick was going to be here five minutes ago," Eagle asked.

"Your watch is five minutes fast," Alex said.

"No it isn't," Eagle said.

"Yes, it is," Alex said, "I should know, I put it that way."

K-Unit and Tom laughed. Eagle grunted, "Why?"

"Cause you were showing up five minutes late to everything," Alex explained and then gave him that boyish half-grin, "And I figured that if you were five minutes late by your watch you might actually be on time."

"You're an ass, Alex," Eagle said, "An ass."

Sitting out here on the side of the road was painstakingly boring. Patrick had required them to hike out here through the woods to a road in the middle of nowhere without being seen so that he could pick them up. The travel had been very reminiscent of Breacon Beacons and the long torturous hikes the Sergeant had put them through. Now they could only sit here on the side of the abandoned road and wait. Luis sighed, "Are we even sure he's coming?"

"He's coming," Alex stated.

Snake frowned, "I would have shown up at least an hour early to stake it out and then surprised us by flanking from the left and therefore getting the upper hand."

"These aren't people trained by the SAS, they're militia," Alex said.

"How does flanking from the left give them the upper hand?" Tom asked, "They'd be walking up to Wolf first."

Snake cringed and cast an apologetic look towards Alex, "That was based off of what I know about team members."

"I don't understand," Tom said bluntly.

Alex cleared his throat and explained, "They're basing it off the fact that I would be the farthest away and not that Wolf would be the closest."

"Okay…" Tom said, clearly not understanding.

Alex looked away from K-Unit, "Snake was implying that I would view K-Unit as potential casualties and order them to stand down instead of attacking because I wouldn't be at the front to take the initial damage. He's implying that I view them the same way I view Eve and James."

There was silence on the line and then Tom said, "Ah, but Patrick doesn't know about your…problem."

"No, and I don't plan on informing him either," Alex said.

"So then, based on what _he_ knows," Tom asked, "What would you have done?"

Alex considered for a moment, "You have four highly trained operatives who make it their regular business to take down large groups of people so I would wait until we were real close to the road and then tranq us."

"What?" Snake asked.

"It allows us to do most of the heavy lifting getting us here and keeps his compound's location hidden from our brains," Alex said.

Luis looked around for potential snipers and then frowned, "You think that's what he's going to do?"

"Nah," Alex said, "That's what _I_ would have done. Patrick likes the theatrics too much for that. If he decides to drug us it'll be in the car. He'll want us to know it was him."

"Got a lot of experience with being drugged?" Snake asked.

Alex shrugged and responded seriously, "It's come up once or twice."

Snake had meant it as a joke. He shot a look at Luis with arched eyebrows. Luis just shrugged. Alex had a lot of issues that came from a really fucked up past and a not so great present; his future was looking pretty bleak too.

At exactly one in the morning, or one 'o' five according to Eagle's watch, a white rusted van rumbled down the road. Alex laughed and shook his head, "The pedo van."

"What?" Luis asked.

Alex laughed and grinned, "It must be an American thing."

The van lumbered up next to Alex and K-Unit. The side door slid open and an unfamiliar man looked at them. He examined their faces carefully and then nodded, "Come in."

The four men loaded themselves into the van one at a time. Patrick was sitting in the front passenger seat, "How are you gentlemen?"

"Tired," Alex snapped.

"Of course," Patrick said, "I've got something to help with that."

He handed each of the men a glass of what appeared to be vodka. Luis arched a brow but said nothing. Alex frowned, "You're trying to liquor me up?"

Patrick laughed and shook his head, "It's mostly vodka but there are some drugs in there to put you to sleep until we arrive."

"Don't want us sending you Christmas cards?" Alex asked.

Patrick smiled, "Something like that."

Alex tossed the contents back without a second thought and Luis and K-Unit followed his example. For a few moments he suspected that the drugs had failed to work then the back of the van swam and then was eaten by the darkness.

**James POV**

If anyone had thought to ask James he would have been happy to point out the obvious flaws with this plan. It seemed to James like the whole MI6/SAS/Alex deal was held together by strings and lies…and even then, mostly lies. Mrs. Jones seemed to think that she was going to be able to keep this little training camp experience from Alex forever. James was willing to bet that his mother was going to have nothing of that. If Mom couldn't get ahold of Dad before his mission was over Mom was sure going to tell him when they got home.

Dad was going to have a cow, a litter of kittens, a litter of puppies, and probably a baby elephant when he found out.

"Do they normally do this much staring?" James asked Cheetah. Cheetah was walking next to him on the uphill trail and the SAS trainees at the various stations next to the trail were tending to stop what they were doing to watch the four-person parade go by. James would've preferred less staring and his mother had never been one to relish the spotlight either.

Cheetah sighed, "No, it's just you."

"I figured," James said with a shrug.

"So Cheetah, Alex told me that you all specialize in something?" Mom asked.

Cheetah nodded, "I'm the communications expert."

"What about you Panther?" James asked.

Panther smiled, "I'm the medic."

Mom frowned, "Really?"

Panther nodded solemnly, "I failed explosives."

"Well," Cheetah explained, "He didn't quite fail it but, I think I'd let James work on a bomb before I'd let Panther near it."

"I think I make things go boom just by thinking about them, and not in a good way," Panther said.

Mom looked heavenward like she was wondering when it was good to blow things up.

James looked around him at the scenery. If you could get past the striking occurrence of a rock wall or a ropes course it was actually quite beautiful here. The rock wall and ropes course may do well blending in after being here so long but James could only think of how he himself was going to have to go up the rock wall and through the ropes course. It didn't exactly look easy. He turned to Panther, "What's the best part about SAS?"

Panther scowled, "Going home."

James sighed. That was not encouraging.

**Kevin POV**

Being rich was great. Whatever the teen books or the TV shows or the whiny brats tried to portray, being rich was pretty darn close to happiness. Being rich put Kevin in whatever clothes he wanted, gave him cable and internet, allowed him to travel and go play arcade games. I mean, sure there was a bodyguard but they tended to be funny and friendly. Sure people wanted to be around you for your money but why shouldn't they want that. Kevin viewed life quite simply and in a world where money made the planet turn he didn't really see a problem with having it. Being rich got him rich friends and he liked that just fine.

But lately, he'd found a new friend. Not the younger boy was poor. He was hardly walking around in rags and going without food but he was not living in a three story mansion during the school year and a condo in America during the summer. He and his family were living comfortably and that was okay with them. But Kevin liked James anyways. Kevin saw lots of arcade trips and amusement park trips in their future and the best part was that even if James didn't have the money, Kevin had more than enough to compensate.

James wasn't at school.

Since the day James had arrived at school and the gossip started floating down from the older students Kevin had been intrigued. At first it was because of his father. Everyone had heard of the legendary Alex Rider but Kevin's father had actually known him. He would only ever tell Kevin so much but it was obvious that James Sprintz had kept tabs on the young Rider boy long after he'd grown up. When Kevin had gone to his father with one of the more common rumors, that Alex Rider had died in a gang fight, his father had just laughed and said, "With enough money and resources anyone can disappear and when people just up and leave, others try to connect the dots…usually unsuccessfully."

Kevin knew that his father knew a lot about Alex Rider, he didn't know that his son was going to school with Alex's son and Kevin wanted to keep it that way. Kevin, like his father, had a keen eye for business that in their youths they tended to use incorrectly. One day Kevin would grow up to own and run the business that his father had inherited and would be just as good at it. Kevin was waiting until the right opportunity to tell his father about James.

Kevin had never seen James sick or seen him miss a day of school. He was always on time and nine chances out of ten had the right answer to questions. He never raised his hand but if he was called on in class he answered clearly and correctly. James missing school was highly unusual. It was an abnormality in the pattern, like Kevin's dad said. He dumped his uneaten food in the trash and walked toward the office.

Mrs. Lehman looked up and smiled, "Why, hello there Kevin. What can I do for you?"

Kevin wasn't one to lie on a regular basis but he understood that sometimes it was necessary, "Hello Mrs. Lehman. James Rider isn't at school today. He called me this morning and told me to bring him his homework but I forgot to ask for his address. Do you have it?"

Mrs. Lehman bit her lip. It was against the rules to be giving out personal information like that but the story seemed so sincere. She nodded, "Let me go get that for you."

Kevin waited a couple of minutes until Mrs. Lehman came back with a small slip of paper with the address. He thanked her and went back to lunch just in time for the bell to ring. Of course, if he wanted to go over to James' he was going to have to convince his driver and to convince his driver…

Kevin was going to have to tell his Dad about James.

**Alex POV**

Alex didn't do the whole moaning and groaning routine when he woke up. Ian had been a light sleeper, waking every time that Alex made a sound. Alex had learned to sleep quietly and wake quietly so that the few times Ian was actually home he could get the rest he deserved. Alex had realized awhile back that it was one of the few spy lessons Ian had taught him unintentionally. God knew that Ian had taught him plenty on purpose. His eyes popped open and he sat up. The cabin style of the room reminded him of Breacon Beacons complete with four uncomfortable cot-like beds. He was taking the space of one and the members of K-Unit were taking up the other three. At the edge of the bed were a set of army green army fatigues. There was a set on the end of every bed. Alex dressed quickly and then set out to wake up K-Unit. They dressed quickly and silently. Eagle held his head, "It's like the worst hangover ever."

Alex frowned, "I don't have a headache."

Wolf frowned as well, "Neither do I."

Eagle looked at Snake, "You have a headache right?"

Snake shook his head, "Not at all."

Eagle glared at them, "I hate you all."

"Where are we at?" Snake asked.

Wolf looked around, "I'm guessing our bunk for the foreseeable future."

"Look familiar to you?" Alex asked.

"Breacon Beacons," Eagle said immediately. The rest of K-Unit looked at him, surprised by his immediate outburst. Eagle frowned, "I have nightmares about that place. This place looks exactly like Breacon Beacons."

Alex nodded, "That's what I thought too."

"Do _you_ have nightmares about Breacon Beacons?" Wolf asked.

Alex shook his head, "I've seen scarier."

"Like what?" Eagle asked.

Alex cringed, "You don't want to know."

Wolf nodded, "We should go."

Alex sighed and walked out. He stopped ten feet outside the door and felt K-Unit pile in behind him. "Whoa."

K-Unit looked out too. Snake nodded, "Whoa."

**AN: I don't know if anyone read the review response I wrote up there but someone asked me if the next book in my future fic series could be about James. It will not be. The next book in the series will be about Alex to finish up this wonderful little story. However, if anyone is interested I **_**have**_** been planning a James story in my head. I originally had no intention of posting it because I thought no one would be interested. The next book is (dun dun dun)**

**Where Others Break by Nicole Travis**

**But I'd love to get James' story down on paper if you readers would enjoy that. Happy reading! And don't forget to review!**


	10. The Sprintz Family

**AN: Ah, the boredom of summer.**

**Review Responses:**

**Synchro Lover – I'm so excited too! What are we excited about?**

**2whitie – I think you'll be glad to hear that some of my best lines, in my opinion (and I must admit bias), are coming up in future chapters. As for Mrs. Jones and her liking her job…I honestly don't know. It was in my view that Mrs. Jones liked being second in command. Being in charge always comes with more responsibilities. Mrs. Jones, I think, does not like some of the things she has to do. It's not so much that she hates her job as that she doesn't not hate it. I know that's confusing but so are most people. I try to make the characters very real and sometimes I think that puts them a little OOC as opposed to Anthony Horowitz.**

**Albany – Yes! I actually know what buenisimo means! Ah, that's so exciting. All these dreadful years of Spanish are paying off. Woo woo! I'm glad you show in interest in James' story. James is such a complicated character to write. I love him because he's so real and special but I think you're right, he deserves a story.**

**Getsumen Kage no Mai – MI6 is always desperate. They are a government funded organization dealing in the grey areas of the law. They are constantly dealing with national and international secrets. Such a duty causes constant desperation. I imagine that writing James' story is going to be a bit like baking a pie. It seems easy when you look at the picture but your pie ends up with a hard crust and not nearly as pretty. Of course, it's awesome because its pie and it still tastes great. James is going to be difficult to write a story about because he is my own creation. You all have a vested interest in Alex, I'm unsure if the interest holds to James.**

**MonssterUnderYourBed - I'm glad you're enjoying it as well as Tom's humor. As for the cliffhanger, well, you know how much I love my cliffhangers. Don't worry, the action will pick up soon.**

**Disclaimer: _ - Fill in the blank**

**Kevin POV**

Kevin's father had explained to him once that most people feel a sense of intimidation by merely walking into the front door of a skyscraper. This feeling was caused by several factors that were often placed there intentionally by the designer and owner. For starters, the sheer size which imparts a small feeling on the person. Another was the building materials. Steel is a common material for skyscrapers and it gives the sense of humanization to the person against a backdrop of modern material and technology. Often, a skyscraper's floors are tile, stone, or wood. There is a thin strip of carpet where the human brain says a person is required to walk. People feel guilty if they stray from the carpet. All these factors and more were what gave businesses like his father's the feeling they did. Kevin had grown up in this kind of world and so the factors that made most people feel intimidated affected him little to none. He, and his driver/bodyguard, took an elevator up to the top floor of the skyscraper where James Sprintz would be located. They made their way to his office and then the bodyguard waited outside the door while Kevin spoke to his father.

James Sprintz' office was large without having a ridiculous amount of space. Although the space was larger than necessary it was only by a small margin due to his father's tendency to not spend money for the sake of spending money. There was a picture of Kevin's grandfather, Dieter Sprintz, hanging behind his father's chair and a picture of Kevin's mother sitting on his desk. Kevin had looked at the picture dozens of times and had it memorized. He'd never met the mother who'd given birth to him and then died in childbirth. She'd been pretty, blonde, hailing from a wealthy German family, and the love of his father's life. Kevin could tell his father missed her and he was sure his father grieved but he'd always been sturdy and had never shirked his fatherly duty.

James Sprintz looked up. He was pale with blue eyes from his German ancestry but retained dark brown hair that fell just over his eyes. Kevin knew those looks, along with the enormous amount of money he held claim to, were to be given credit for James' win of most eligible bachelor two years ago, "Hello Kevin."

"Hello Father," Kevin said, "I need to talk to you."

"Can it wait?" James asked with a sigh, "I'd love to talk but I've got all this paperwork. Promise me, when I give you this company that you won't hire someone to do the paperwork no matter how tempting. I know it's crossed my mind so many times I can't even begin to tell –"

"Dad!" Kevin interrupted, "It's about Alex Rider."

James Sprintz smiled, "Now's not the time for stories Kevin. As much as I'd love to procrastinate and talk the fact is that–"

"I have a story to tell you," Kevin said.

James frowned, but his curiosity was peaked, "Go on."

"I've heard you tell me the same story for ten years and each and every time you tell the story it always has the same ending and that ending is a young Alex Rider barely fifteen that goes to America and disappears. Every time you tell the story you tell me that he likely died and that was The End," Kevin said, "What if I could tell you that it wasn't The End."

"Tell me the story Kevin," James said. Kevin could tell, by the look on James' face that he was wondering at the reality and relativity of Kevin's story.

"The story starts and ends almost exactly the same way yours does except for one thing. It continues. Alex Rider moved to America where his identity was carefully hidden through layers of fake stories and false identification and buried under miles and miles of paperwork," Kevin said, "But all the red tape used to cover him up was enough to hid him until his adult years. After making a life for himself that involved a woman and his first born son an old enemy comes and threatens him. He is forced to go back into whatever it is that Alex Rider did, because you won't tell me what. This old enemy forces Alex back to England where he settles down once more but now he's doing whatever it was that he used to do. I know that you said it took him away for long periods of time."

James nodded, "It did."

"While he is gone doing whatever it is that he is doing another old enemy discovers the identity of his family and kidnaps them to do god knows what," Kevin said.

James waited and then asked, "What happens next?"

Kevin finally took a seat across from his father, "That's a very good question."

**Alex POV**

From the briefing Mrs. Jones' had given him Alex had got the impression that, although dangerous, the Purity Fighters were for the majority without resources or money and had recruited Alex and K-Unit to obtain the money. Alex had obtained the wrong impression. The Purity Fighters were far from low on money. Perhaps the biggest clue to that was the outsized satellite in the middle of the compound. Alex flashed back, only for a moment, to a satellite high in the clouds floating in a hot air balloon. He shook himself of the past and looked carefully at the satellite here in the present. He cast his looks at the soldiers, and they were soldiers. Every man carried a weapon of the highest quality, was dressed in clean green army fatigues, and all of them seemed to have a place to go. It was organized, well-funded, and about to make Alex's job ten times harder than it had to be, "Damn."

"What?" Tom asked in his ear.

Alex frowned, "I really hate my job."

"Is this gonna cause a problem in completing a mission?" Snake asked.

Alex snorted, "Does it matter?"

Without waiting for a response he started walking. From the SAS-like cabin he'd managed to spot Patrick near the satellite. At the very least this would give Alex a chance to see the satellite up close. K-Unit followed behind him. Patrick saw him and grinned. Alex cast an obvious look at the satellite, "I was unaware of your apparent resources Patrick."

Patrick laughed, "Yes, that's our new toy. Cost a pretty penny I assure you but no matter, we'll have even more resources as you called them because of it. I see you know what to do with army fatigues Agent Rider."

"I was under the impression I was no longer an Agent," Alex said.

"Ah yes, well, I find that many people enjoy keeping the status they worked so hard to achieve. From what I hear, becoming an agent for MI6 is extremely difficult," Patrick said.

Alex forced a smile on his face, "In my opinion it always felt thrust on me."

Patrick looked to K-Unit, "Alex has told me little about the three of you and our resident hacker, although highly intelligent, is not up to the task of hacking into MI6 and SAS databases."

Alex raised his eyebrows and motioned to the satellite, "Not even with that thing in his back pocket?"

"Sadly no," Patrick frowned, "Did you suspect otherwise?"

Alex shrugged, "Well, I met a man that hacked into MI6 using just his personal laptop."

"Really?" Patrick asked hungrily, "And where could I find this man?"

Alex looked around at the alarmingly Caucasian militia and thought of Tom's dark skin color, "I don't think he'd fit in around here."

Patrick grinned again, "Well, that's too bad then. As I was saying, I don't know much about you but I'd love for you to give me the chance. Was Alex here the Unit Leader?"

Wolf grinned like, well, a wolf. Alex shook his head, "No, that'd be Wolf here."

Patrick turned to face Wolf, "How surprising. I find the Unit Leader is normally the first to get picked up by MI6."

Wolf snorted, "Not likely. I find that MI6 is not a person I'd like to be working for."

"I'm glad to hear that," Patrick said. He looked back at Alex, "What was your specialty Agent Rider?"

Alex hadn't actually had a specialty for the eleven days he'd been with SAS but without Fox here there was an opening, "Explosives."

Patrick's grin grew wider, "Lovely."

Wolf nodded and finished introductions, "This is Eagle, our communications expert, and Snake, our medic."

"A medic?" Patrick asked.

Snake nodded, "Yes sir."

"And a good soldier," Patrick continued, "I think I'll like you. For that matter I think I'll like all of you."

Alex's grin was strained, "Wonderful."

Patrick didn't seem to notice, "I'd like you to meet my second in command. This is Hugo."

Hugo was a gorilla. Big, hairy, and by the looks of it very mean. Hugo stood at least six foot seven and was as wide as a refrigerator. He had a couple scars here and there but Alex would've guessed they were lucky shots. Whoever gave those scars too Hugo the gorilla had probably left the fight in a much worse condition. When he spoke the accent was thick and German, "Pleasure."

"As terrible as it is I do have work to do. Before we put _you_ all to work, however, Hugo here will run you through the paces; test you and all that rubbish," Patrick said, "I'm sure SAS and MI6 men like yourselves will have no problem with that. Good day."

Patrick walked off and left Alex and K-Unit with Hugo. The gorilla smiled and barked out at them, "Follow me."

**Rose Harper POV**

Being raised in a military family came with advantages and disadvantages. Depending on your outlook on life it could be either that when someone with a higher level of authority tells you to do something you jump into action. Rose had always thought it was an advantage due to her career choice. She did not question orders and that had earned her many a gold star while striving for MI6 agent status. After her conversation with her father the SAS Sargent she was starting to reconsider.

"Don't bring Alex Rider up," He'd told her.

"Why?" Rose asked.

"It's not something anyone should get into, especially you," He replied.

"I don't understand," Rose said, "What is there to get into?"

"I should never have told you anything about Alex Rider," Her father said, "Your curiosity was always easily peaked."

"Sargent, why is Alex Rider such a secret?" Rose asked.

"Rose, please, stay out of this," He said.

"No, not until you tell me what's going on," Rose replied.

There was a pause and then, "There are too many factors for you to be involved in this. Even Rider isn't aware of the pile of shit he's stepped back into. You have to understand, things are much more complicated than they were when he was here last and his case was always unique to begin with."

"Dad–" Rose said.

Her father interrupted, "Things aren't balanced right now. Authority is in the wrong hands."

"I don't understand," Rose insisted.

"Listen," Her father explained, "There are some people, people who never should've been involved in this, that have all the authority now. In this world you don't leave. Alex learned that and I imagine that he's going to learn it again soon."

"Is Rider in danger?" Rose asked.

Silence, and then, "In this situation? We're all in danger."

"Dad…" Rose trailed off.

"Some ideas just won't stay dead, Rose," The Sargent said, "Be careful."

**Eagle POV**

Alex stood on top of Eagle's shoulders and despite Alex's fit frame he was a full grown and well-built man. He was heavy and Eagle's shoulder's ached. Alex hefted himself onto the brick wall and turned to face the rest of the men, "Who's next?"

Eagle raised his hand, "Uh, that'd be me."

"Beautiful," Alex said. He held out his hands and prepared to lift the SAS soldier up. Eagle grabbed ahold of Alex's hands and together they worked him up the wall. Behind him, Wolf pushed until he growled out, "Eagle, if you don't get your arse out of my face in the next few seconds I'll beat you."

Eagle heard threats like this from Wolf on a nearly daily basis. Ninety-nine percent of the time Wolf was full of shit, but just in case Eagle moved a little bit faster. Alex hauled him up and then Eagle helped him haul Snake up and then finally Wolf. Alex stood up on the wall while the rest of them crouched down, fearing falling off. Eagle frowned, "Alex, what are you doing?"

The man was examining the rope they'd have to swing across a mud pile after crawling under barbed wire. The whole obstacle course had felt similar to the course at SAS and this was one of those times, "I was estimating distances."

"For what?" Wolf asked.

Alex pointed to the rope, "If we could grab onto the rope now we'd be able to avoid the barbed wire and cut off minutes from our time."

Eagle added up distances, "It's not possible. We couldn't reach the rope."

"It's possible," Alex frowned, "Just difficult."

Wolf checked the distances too, "If you miss we'd be adding minutes to our time."

"And you'd fall into the barbed wire. Let's please not forget the barbed wire. There's only so much I can do with barbed wire injuries," Snake said, "You'll probably break a bone."

"Yeah," Alex said. He crouched down and looked at the rope. He leaned forward.

"What are you doing?" Snake asked.

"Probably breaking a bone," Alex said. He tensed his muscles and then leaped. Eagle held his breath as he watched Alex leap in slow motion. It was hardly likely that Alex was _actually_ leaping in slow motion but it sure felt like it. Alex stretched his body out to cover as much distance as possible. Alex began his descent aiming straight at the barbed wire. Eagle closed his eyes for a moment and then decided he'd better watch. Alex seemed to head face first into barbed wire and then he rolled. His shoulders hit the ground millimeters from where the barbed wire ended and he lay silently on his back. Eagle released his breath.

Snake sighed in relief, "Are you okay?"

Alex stood up and brushed off the dirt from his back, "Fine and dandy. Now, how's about I swing you this here rope?"

One by one K-Unit swung across the ropes to where Alex was standing and then one by one they all swung across the mud pit. There was a half a mile jog and then the finish line. Hugo stood at the end with a stop watch. He clicked the watch as Alex crossed over the line last and then frowned, "That is close to four minutes less than our best."

Alex grinned big and swung his arm around Eagle's shoulders, "That's how we do it in the SAS and MI6."

**James Sprintz POV**

"What exactly are you trying to tell me?" James asked.

Kevin nodded, "I'm trying to tell you what I've managed to piece together about the very real reality of Alex Rider."

"And what have you managed to piece together?" James asked.

"Alex Rider is back in England. His son, James Rider, is a second grader at Brookland Comprehensive. Alex is gone as is James," Kevin said, "And I'd sure like to know what happened to them all."

James grinned, proud of his son, "I think we need to have a more in depth chat about Mr. Alex Rider. There are a few things I left out of the story."

James picked up his phone and got his secretary, "Yes Mr. Sprintz?"

"Cancel all my meetings for today. Cancel everything," He said. After he hung up he looked Kevin straight in the eyes and said, "Let me tell you about a school I went to when I was much younger…"

**AN: And that's a wrap. I'm hearing some good things about a sequel and eventually, a James sequel. I'd like more feedback however. Please remember to review. It inspires me to know that there are readers that know what they like. Happy reading!**


	11. Scorpian and Shark

**AN: Just realized how scary perfect the song "It's Not Easy" by Five for Fighting is as a theme song for Alex's life. You should all listen to it. Exciting note! James is back in this one. I realized it's been, like, three chapters since you've all seen him. I can't believe I pushed him to the back burner for so long!**

**Review Responses:**

**Albany – Thank you for such a wonderfully long review. Thank you for thinking my story is amazing. As a reader no matter what I say, do, or think the real answer always comes from you. Thank you for believing in me. I agree with everything you say about a sequel. I'm glad you'll be following along.**

**2whitie – Sorry it took so long to get those main points popping up. This time around there is more factors and more points of view. It takes longer to get all those points of view out. As for Wolf, well, DUH! In all seriousness though, I'm glad you're enjoying it.**

**MonssterUnderYourBed – I love my characters, and as much as I love making new ones I enjoying bringing back some old ones. Mrs. Jones, Alex, Tom, and K-Unit are often a common set of characters in an Alex Rider fanfiction. I challenged myself to find a less common character that would suit a specific purpose (which you will discover in a future chapter). Thanks for reviewing!**

**Disclaimer: Alright, I'll do another one. I can't think of anything catchy so I'm gonna take a page from a number of different author's books and let the characters do it.**

**Eve: Although Nicole Travis is an amazing author…**

**James: And a beautiful redheaded girl…**

**Cheetah: With more intelligence than any one person should be allowed…**

**Rose Harper: And the owner of a wonderfully charming personality…**

**Panther: She does not, never has, and likely never will…**

**Charles Patrick: Own the Alex Rider series or any of the characters portrayed in her novel that were originally written by Anthony Horowitz.**

**Alex: And for that we are all eternally grateful.**

**Me: Alex, I am in charge of this plotline however. There are like a thousand Alex Rider fanfics I could pull torture ideas from. Be careful about what you're grateful for.**

**(Silence)**

**Me: Yeah! Score for Nikki!**

**James Rider POV**

James was sitting quietly on the cot shoved into R-Unit's cabin. The SAS taught the soldiers how to make do with what they had and four cots in a cabin was already pushing that lesson. Six cots in the same bunk and James felt a little too close to people for comfort. He was sure his mother was even more uncomfortable being the only woman. The SAS had put up a sort of makeshift dressing room for his mother outside. It was not of the best quality.

The door flung open and James ducked. After all they'd gone through in recent times James felt that only ducking, and not screaming in terror or wetting his pants, was actually a pretty appropriate response. The man in the doorway was tall, lean, but aging. He had the look on his face like he'd seen Hell and fought it and he felt he should share that experience with you. James considered his reaction and allowed himself a mental pat on the back. Ducking, when such a man entered the room, was probably a smart idea.

The man looked around until his gaze settled on James and his mother, "I am the Sargent here and shall be addressed as such. Exactly how old are you kid?"

"Seven," James replied.

A twitch worked in the Sargent's eye, "Seven?"

James nodded, "I'll turn eight in a couple of months."

Apparently that wasn't what the Sargent wanted to hear. He took a deep breath and then said, "We need to give you codenames."

Mom frowned, "But they already know our names."

"I don't care," The Sargent said, "Here in the SAS we have rules and I'm going to hold on to as many as I can."

"What kind of codenames do we get?" James asked.

Panther looked to the Sargent for permission. When he nodded Panther said, "It's always an animal and we usually stick to predators."

"Usually?" Mom asked.

Cheetah explained, "When your husband was here they called him Cub."

"How kind of you," Mom said. Her tone made it clear she thought otherwise.

The Sargent thought about it, "We'll call you, ma'am, Black Widow."

"Excuse me?" Mom asked.

James tried to reason with her, "It's a predator but it implies you're a woman Mom."

Mom ground her teeth together and nodded, "Fine."

"As for you…" The Sargent trailed off.

James looked him in the eye, "With all due respect, sir, I'd like my father's codename."

The Sargent drew back, surprised. After the shock faded he nodded, maybe with more respect for the young boy, "Alright, Cub it is."

**Tom POV**

Tom was beginning to amass as many aliases as Alex himself. He was first and foremost Tom Harris but he'd been a man named Leroy, Tony, Jimmy, Donald, Leon, and Timothy on various missions. During his stint with the SAS he'd been known as Falcon. Online he was known as the hacker Grief. He'd named himself Grief online because his grief had been the catalyst for starting to hack. Tom was completely unaware until he hacked MI6's files that he'd stumbled upon the name of Alex's clone.

When he'd walked into the outpost MI6 had set up in the middle of the forest the hacker inside of him had taken stock of the technology, and found it exceeding his standards. Although it appeared to be a nearly abandoned cabin on the outside, the inside was filled with every bit of the latest and greatest in the hacking world. All that was fine by Tom.

Tom pulled the ear bud out of his ear and pushed various buttons until he had Alex and K-Unit on speakers. Tom, Alex, and K-Unit had been told to memorize a list of phrases to be used as code. Alex and K-Unit had to memorize them so they could use them. Tom had to memorize them so he could recognize them, "What's all this talk about barbed wire?"

"Boy does time fly," Wolf said.

Wolf's response had been one of those key phrases. They'd be able to talk soon. Tom nodded even though they couldn't see him, "Got it."

Tom waited for a few minutes and let their conversations wash over him. It was boring cover conversation and nothing important to the mission. There was a pause in the conversation and then, "Alright, do you have that little recording thingy Jones was talking about on?"

"Yes Alex," Tom said.

"Are you sure? Because if I have to go over this again I'm gonna be pissed," Alex said.

"It's on Alex," Tom said, "I'm really good at this end of stuff. I've got it handled."

"If you're so good at hacking and computers why do they send you out on missions?" Eagle asked.

"It was partly my choice," Tom said, "And partly because I'd also had SAS training which makes me prime field material. I do a lot of computer stuff though. Alex just happened to catch me on a field mission."

"Is everything okay on your end then?" Alex asked.

Tom rolled his eyes, "Alex, you just let me worry about the stuff on my end. It's what I do. You worry about the stuff on your end. It's what _you_ do."

"But-" Alex said.

Tom interrupted, "I get the computer viruses and firewalls, you get biochemical bombs and highly armed militia okay?"

There was a pause, a sigh, and then, "Okay."

"Now," Tom asked, "How did it go with Patrick?"

"Haven't you been listening?" Alex asked.

"On and off," Tom said, "But that's beside the point. This is for the recording thingy's sake."

"You're kidding me," Alex said.

"Nope," Tom said, "Now, get on with it."

"Well, we talked and then he ran us through an obstacle course," Alex said. The sarcasm dripped from his words.

Tom laughed, "Thanks Alex. Your attention to detail is astounding."

"Don't you have rules to follow Alex?" Wolf asked.

"What do you mean?" Alex asked.

Wolf continued, like no one else saw the elephant in the room, "Well, couldn't your family get in trouble for you not following instructions."

Silence. They were past hearing pins drop, you could've heard Alex's teeth grating together, "Patrick showed interest in getting a hacker to infiltrate MI6's database. He also has a satellite for unknown reasons. He has plans of setting us up with jobs within the compound but we were required to go through several tests to measure our capabilities. Although this probably has nothing to do with the mission the compound here along with the tests shows a remarkable similarity to Breacon Beacons."

Tom had a grim look on his face. Wolf's reminder was not exactly what Alex needed in the middle of a mission but he could hardly say that with Alex listening in, "Right, uh, thank you Alex."

"It's my job," Alex said.

Tom winced. This could get ugly.

**Panther POV**

Moments after the Sargent left and the door slammed shut it swung back open and bounced off the wall. Panther peeked at the wall where it hit and noticed a spider web like pattern where the handle kept banging into the wall. He grimaced.

"Honey, I'm home!" It was the voice, and body, of the Unit's communication expert, Shark.

The bigger more muscular body of R-Unit's leader belonged to Scorpion. His eyes immediately jumped to the irregularity in the room which happened to be Eve and James, or Black Widow and Cub now. His smile was forced and the scar on his cheek made it look dangerous, "You must be Rider's wife and son."

"Ding! Ding! Ding!" James said, "We have a winner."

R-Unit took a collective breath. Scorpion arched a brow at James, "Excuse me?"

"You're excused," James said, "But really, how many woman and children were you expecting? Of course we're the Rider family."

Scorpion snorted, "Apparently not all the family. If your father was here R-Unit wouldn't have been stuck with you."

"Oh sure we would, eventually," James said, "Except then you'd have had to deal with my Dad too. And we might have gotten our _own_ cabin instead of being forced to share it with you and your charming personality."

Scorpion stared at the boy and James, as young as he was, stared back. Finally Scorpion laughed, "You know, I like you kid."

Cheetah leaned over and whispered to Panther, "How come the kid can be rude but if we'd said the same things we'd have been strung up?"

"Because even I have a height limit before I start breaking people in half," Scorpion said.

Cheetah turned fifty shades of red and shut his mouth. Panther sighed, "This is our explosives expert Shark and the man with the charming personality is our Unit Leader, Scorpion."

"Scorpion, huh?" Eve asked.

"Problem?" Scorpion asked her.

"Huh? No, not at all," Eve said, "It's just; your name sounds very familiar to a former terrorist organization."

Scorpion seemed to choke a bit and Shark burst out laughing, "Forget the kid. I like the woman."

**James Sprintz POV**

James walked down the hallways with the purposeful speed that came from having a destination; metaphorically and literally. His son, Kevin, had to take two steps for every one of James' but the boy was so caught up in excitement of the story to actually care. James started, "When I was fourteen I got into a lot of trouble, made some bad choices. My parents thought it was necessary to send me to a special boarding school called Point Blanc."

"Okay," Kevin said.

"Point Blanc wasn't what it seemed. Even I could tell that much," James said, "But I was in no position to figure it out, none of the boys there were."

James went on, "I hadn't been there very long before Alex Friend showed up. He'd made some of the same choices I had and his parents had chosen to send him to Point Blanc as well. We got along as much as two people at a boarding school could. He was the only boy there that I trusted and I'm pretty sure he felt the same way about me."

"It wasn't too long until I was pulled out of my bed during the middle of the night and locked up," James said, "I won't go into detail but before long Alex Friend was downstairs unlocking my cell and telling me that everything was going to be alright because back up was on the way."

"I thought we were talking about Alex Rider," Kevin said.

"We are," James replied, "Alex Friend was an alias. In reality, Alex's last name was Rider and he told me that he worked for MI6."

"Like James Bond?" Kevin asked.

"Exactly," James said, "Eventually we were indeed saved from Point Blanc by a bunch of SAS guys. I never saw Alex again."

"Okay," Kevin prompted.

"As soon as I hit adulthood I hired a private investigator to start looking into him. It was highly expensive and for the most part, fruitless until I found a retired reporter. He was pretty young to be retired and he spent almost all his time in bars but the man told stories of the boy spy," James said, "I got enough information from him to find an origin but I was too late to save the boy…or so I thought."

"You thought he was dead," Kevin said.

James nodded, "That's what everybody thought. No one had any knowledge of the boy living. I threw a couple rocks in the water to see if anything moved but the name seemed dead."

"He still goes by the name Alex Rider," Kevin said.

"I'm sure MI6 did everything in their power to hide him away," James said.

"What makes you think we can find him now?" Kevin asked.

"I made a mistake in my youth while looking for him," James said, "Alex doesn't want to be found."

"So?" Kevin asked.

"So, now I'm going to throw rocks in a different pool and see who jumps out," James said, "If Alex is back in England than MI6 has something to do with it and you better believe that if you start sniffing around the right area one of their goons is gonna try to scare me off."

"What if they do that?" Kevin asked.

James grinned, "It takes a lot to scare off a Sprintz."

**Sargent POV**

The Sargent pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed heavily. It was a habit he'd developed recently, a habit that came from the feeling of having the world on your shoulders. It was hard being in the military. It was hard working with intelligence agencies. It was hard to be a father.

It was damn near impossible when all three roles crossed.

Why couldn't Rose just leave it all alone? The Sargent had quickly learned what the saying, between a rock and a hard place, meant. SAS was pulling one way and MI6 was pulling another and here he was holding the wrong end of both sides. Being a member of the elite forces of the British Army, there wasn't a whole lot the Sargent felt he couldn't handle. He'd been on missions, war tours, and raised a daughter by himself. He knew how to kill a man six different ways using just a piece of string and how to feed a child in one arm while using the other to throw a grenade. This whole situation with Alex Rider was the one and only situation where the Sargent had ever felt out of his league. Who would have known that Alex Rider could cause such a problem for him? Who would have guessed that a reluctant spy could bring SAS to their knees?

And who could have guessed the said reluctant spy could do so while being completely unaware that he _was_ doing so?

The Sargent sure couldn't have guessed…and now he was paying for it in spades.

**Martin POV**

Martin worked with computers. He'd always worked with computers since his mother had raised him while working for a computer company. She'd worked in the IT department of the computer company and she was good at her job. By the time he was in high school he was an accomplished computer programmer and it hadn't taken much to make him a good hacker for MI6. His mother, still alive and working for the same computer company, would have highly disapproved of such work. Computers were dangerous in the wrong hands and, in his mother's opinion, MI6 were not the right hands.

His colleagues, the group he'd been trained in MI6 with, did not know computers the way he did. Anthony specialized in infiltration. Frank specialized in rescue. Rose specialized in undercover. Of course, all four of them were trained in everything and were more than capable of handling any assignment thrown their way but if given the choice anyone would pick their greatest strength.

Of course, no matter what they specialized in there were some cases were you were not prepared for what you walked into-or in Martin's case hacked into-and in those cases Martin had found that it was often better to step away and follow orders. Rose preferred a much different approach.

"Rose, this has confidential written all over it," Martin said.

Rose scoffed, "This is MI6, Martin, and the amount of toilet paper they buy is confidential."

"This isn't a joke," Anthony said.

Frank nodded, "We could get into some serious trouble for this."

"Since when did your balls fall off?" Rose asked, "We didn't join MI6 so we could stick our head in the sand."

"This isn't sticking our heads in the sand," Anthony said, "Its following orders."

"And I'll have you know that my balls are exactly where they're supposed to be," Frank said curtly.

Rose rolled her eyes, "Martin, hack it."

"Rose…" Martin trailed off.

"Martin…" Rose said mockingly, "Hack it."

Martin looked away from Rose's demanding eyes and turned to Frank and Anthony. Anthony had his arms crossed over his chest and a disapproving scowl on his face. Frank was leaning on the wall and shaking his head. Martin looked back to Rose and then back to the guys, "Rose…"

"Martin." Rose replied assertively.

Martin sighed. If he didn't do it for her she'd just do it herself and she wasn't nearly as good as he was, "Fine."

"Martin!" Anthony exclaimed.

Martin sighed again, "We _did_ tell her we'd help her."

"Not like this!" Anthony said.

Frank shrugged and took a seat next to Martin, "Can you even do this?"

Martin swallowed nervously, "I'm not sure."

**AN: And that's a wrap! Hope you all liked it. I'm taking a poll here in reviews. I need to know who your favorite Alex Rider character is that I haven't used yet (they must be alive!), who your favorite Alex Rider character I've already used, and your favorite character from these stories that I personally came up with. It'll help me when I put together Where Others Break. Just put it in the review!**


	12. Richard Crawley

**AN: No excuses. I'm willing to bet most people have forgotten about this story but I'm going to finish it. I promised I would.**

**2whitie – I was inspired. As someone who spent all of last summer taking care of my neighbor's baby I totally understand the implication of being able to both hold a baby properly and throw a grenade. I haven't thought about using any of the American agents but I'm sure I could find a way to slide them in since one of my best reviewers asked for it.**

**MonssterUnderYourBed – Your ability to make that single word really live up to its name is incredible. Thanks for taking the time to review.**

**Guest – Thank you. You are actually the only person who answered that question. For that reason I'm really going to try and find a place to stick Edward Pleasure into this story…and if not this story then maybe the sequel.**

**Sodai no Ozora – I apologize if I spelled your name wrong. James is greatly inspired by my little brother. Much of what he says makes it into James' dialogue. Don't worry if you're a Sergeant fan though. He's going to get his chance.**

**Disclaimer: Well, Anthony Horowitz probably wouldn't have taken this long to update.**

**James Sprintz POV**

James Sprintz stopped at the large desk situated at the end of the hall. The young man working at the desk adjusted his glasses but was so engrossed in his work he was oblivious to the man and young boy at the desk. James tapped the desk with his hand impatiently. "Douglas, I have a job for you."

"Yes, sir," Douglas' head snapped up. "What can I do for you, sir?"

"I would like you to send out an email to every news channel, newspaper, and radio station that is stationed in London and have them relay the message that Sprintz Enterprises will pay for information regarding one Alex Rider," James Sprintz said.

Douglas faltered. "Every news channel, newspaper, and radio station?"

"That's what I said," James Sprintz replied.

Douglas frowned. "But sir, that will take forever."

"I imagine you won't send out too many before I have to tell you to stop," James Sprintz said. "But I want to be thorough. They have to get the message."

"They who, sir?" Douglas asked.

"Don't you worry," James Sprintz said. "Just get on that for me."

"Of course, sir, right now," Douglas turned back to the computer and got to work.

Kevin tugged on his dad's suit jacket until the tall man looked down at him. "I don't understand."

James Sprintz grinned. "MI6 crushed a reporter's career when he looked into Alex's past. They'll have a little more trouble crushing me. The best way to find someone is to have them come to you."

"What do we do now?" Kevin asked.

James took his son's hand and together they walked back to his office. "We wait."

**Eve POV**

"I hate the outdoors," Eve said. They'd been outside for no longer than two hours and already her fair skin had turned a pale shade of pink. It wouldn't be long before she was redder than a lobster and feeling about as cooked as one.

"Come on, it's not that bad. There's fresh air, sunlight, and privacy for miles and miles around," Shark said.

James shook his head. "Don't even bother trying. Mom's a huge fan of air conditioning, chlorine pools, and treadmills."

"I'm a redhead, James," Eve said.

James nodded. "I know, Mom."

"You can't just stick a redhead outside and expect everything to be okay," Eve said. "We get burned very easily. I get used to staying indoors. There are no bugs indoors. There is no pollen indoors."

"There is plenty of complaining out here though," Scorpion said with an arched eyebrow.

Eve hesitated for a moment and then answered, "I know I was supposed to feel bad at that but I refuse."

"Besides, if being outdoors affects your fair skin so much than why not pack some sunscreen?" Shark asked.

Eve stopped in her tracks and started laughing. "Of course! There I was with a tranquilizer dart sticking out of my arm and, silly me, I forgot to grab the sunscreen on my way down when I collapsed."

James sighed. "Man, I told you not to bother trying."

Shark looked like he was going to snap back but apparently thought better about playing mental tennis with a seven year old. "Right."

"Where are we going again?" Eve asked.

"Like I told you before-" Scorpion said.

"And the time before that," Shark muttered under his breath.

Scorpion continued, "We are going to the obstacle course. We are going to test your current skills and see exactly how far we've got to take this."

A leaf drifted down from the skies and landed in Eve's hair. She tugged it out and flicked it away. "And exactly how far away is the obstacle course?"

"We're here," Cheetah said before Shark could interject anything.

James and Eve walked to the front of the group. The examined the course with wide eyes and slack jaws. James cleared his throat and not very subtly asked, "You _do_ realize I'm seven, right?"

Cheetah gave him a sympathetic smile. "This really wasn't my decision."

"Well, that makes me feel much better," James said.

Cheetah and Shark walked James and his mother over to the beginning of the obstacle course. Cheetah put a hand on James shoulder. "Basically, the goal is to make it through the course in a set amount of time."

"What's our time?" Eve asked.

"Don't worry about it," Scorpion interjected.

Cheetah looked at his fellow SAS soldier confused. "What?"

Scorpion took the paper from Cheetah and ripped it into pieces that he dropped onto the ground. "I was wrong, Cheetah. It's harder than I thought it'd be."

Shark glared at Scorpion. "What are you doing?"

"The right thing," Scorpion said. He gave Eve a pointed look. "I've never questioned orders ma'am. I'm a good soldier with a good team. This isn't right. Cheetah, get them started on the obstacle course but don't push it. I want to see what we have to work with."

"I thought you were doing the right thing?" Shark asked sarcastically.

Scorpion nodded. "I'm going to make these two jump through hoops at MI6 command but they do need to protect themselves, from MI6 if necessary. We're going to do this the right way, the way we were taught at SAS. The people around here need to stop acting like MI6's personal army and start remembering the pride we had as rookies at SAS."

Cheetah nodded as well. "Sure thing boss."

"I need to go talk to a few people," Scorpion said. "Panther and Shark are with me."

They left which left Cheetah alone with his two new charges. "Well, that was unexpected. Scorpion was ready to make this pretty miserable for you."

"What changed his mind?" Eve asked.

"Maybe just meeting you and realizing you're real humans or hearing some of your story maybe. Scorpion is a lot like the poisonous insect he's named after when you're on the wrong side of him but, what MI6 is doing to you isn't right," Cheetah replied. He shrugged. "Even Scorpion can see that."

"Got any tips?" James asked motioning to the obstacle course before them.

"Try different things. I'll be running next to the course in case of emergencies but take risks. The goal is to get through the obstacle course as fast as you can but you'll have plenty of chances to do that," Cheetah said.

"Great, something to look forward to," Eve said.

**Alex POV**

"When do we get jobs?" Wolf asked impatiently.

"You are really excited to start working for the bad guys," Eagle said.

Wolf shrugged. "I'm just excited to work at all. There's nothing to do just sitting here in this cabin."

Alex had been lying on his back on his cot for the hours since running the obstacle course. "Just relax. We'll have plenty to do in due time."

"Shouldn't you be looking for information or something?" Eagle asked.

Alex snorted. "We're new around here. They'll be watching for disloyalty. Give some time for us to make nice and then I'll go risk our necks looking for information."

"Well, when you put it like that," Wolf said.

"Do you feel out of practice, like Tom said?" Snake asked.

"Not at all," Alex said sarcastically. "It's like riding a bike."

Snake frowned. "That bad, huh?"

Alex sat up and shrugged. "I'm good at it but it's certainly no easier than it was when I was doing it at fourteen."

Eagle's stomach grumbled loudly. He blushed faintly. "Can we go find something to eat?"

Alex smirked. "Yeah, let's get out of here before Wolf gets cabin fever and Eagle starves to death."

"I thought you said we should stay put," Snake said.

"I never said that," Alex said. "I just said we shouldn't go snooping."

"So we sat in here and did nothing for no reason at all?" Wolf asked.

Alex gave him a smile that reminded them all very much of the fourteen year old boy from Brecon Beacons. "Well, I wouldn't say that. I got a pretty decent rest."

Wolf nearly growled at him. "Let's go."

It wasn't like Patrick had given them a map with the mess hall clearly labeled. Alex saw two options: run around and hope they stumbled on it or ask for directions. "Let's go find someone to ask for directions."

Wolf snorted. "You are not a real man."

"Excuse me?" Alex asked.

"Real men don't ask for directions. We can find food on our own," Wolf said.

"Well, you real men can wander around in search for lunch then. I'll go ask for directions," Alex said, rolling his eyes. He spotted a young man and was pointed in the direction of a big brown building. "Thanks."

Alex headed in the direction of the building and before long the rest of his team was behind him. He chuckled. "Decided to follow directions?"

Eagle's stomach grumbled again. "We've learned to pick our battles."

"Glad to hear it," Alex said as he walked into the mess hall. Like every other cafeteria he'd ever been in this one was crowded, loud, and complete with smells that shouldn't be associated with food. The men grabbed food and took a seat at an empty table.

Snake coughed and muttered under his breath. "Just like school."

Alex arched an eyebrow. "And what exactly was school like for you Snake?"

"You know, sitting alone. Cliques and junk like that," Snake said.

"Were you unpopular, mate?" Eagle asked.

Snake snorted. "I was a science and maths buff. Of course I was unpopular. What about you?"

Wolf grinned. "Eagle was the wimpy kid that got his head shoved into the toilets every Monday."

"I'll have you know I was one of the biggest kids in my class and I was never bullied in school," Eagle replied. "I'll bet you were the bully."

Wolf grinned in a way that made it clear that Wolf was the right nickname for him. "And proud of it."

"What about you Alex? You're smart and Tom said you played football. Bet you did pretty well for yourself in school," Wolf said.

Alex gave them half a grin that covered up a lot of bad memories. "Actually, not so much. I mean, I was fine at first but since I was out of school so often that kind of all went away. By the time I moved to America I was pretty much an outcast. People thought I was a druggie or a gang member."

"Wow," Eagle said and then he slammed his fist down into the cafeteria table. "And that's exactly what's wrong with our education system in this country. I mean, we educate students so that they can't put two and two together and get four. What kind of student goes from super-athlete and good student to druggie and gang member? That's not logical."

Snake shook his head as he ate his plate of spaghetti. "Children aren't known for their logic."

"Neither is Eagle," Wolf replied.

A group of men dressed in fatigues sat down at the table beside Alex and K-Unit. "Look, it's the new rookies."

"By definition, aren't rookies new?" Eagle asked under his breath. Alex smiled.

Wolf cleared his throat. "I haven't been a rookie in a long time, mate."

"Ah, well, you're a rookie to the Purity Fighters," the man replied. "The name's Neil."

"Wolf," he replied in turn.

Neil frowned. "What kind of name is Wolf?"

"The kind you get in the SAS," said a snarky Eagle.

"My name is David," the second of three men with Neil. "The short one is Ryan and the one with the horrible facial hair is Peter."

"It's a goatee, David. Lots of people have goatees," Peter said.

David himself was tall and fairly handsome with a white scar running down his right cheek. "If you say so. Anyways, it's nice to meet the new SAS recruits. We had a poll going as to when Patrick was finally going to pull some of you guys in. Guess I lost. I had it pegged for two months from now."

Neil grinned. "That's okay. Your loss is my gain."

Ryan, the shortest one but not necessarily short at about five foot and ten inches, finally added something to the conversation. "So which of you is the MI6 recruit?"

"That'd be me," Alex said. "Alex Rider."

"You're shitting me, right?" Peter said.

"No," Alex said only slightly uncomfortably.

Peter grinned. "No fucking way. That's awesome."

Neil frowned. "Would you care to share with the rest of the class?"

"Oh, come on. Don't you remember those stories from Catterick?" Peter asked.

David adopted a look of concentration on his face. "I guess it sounds kind of familiar."

"You remember some of the stupidest things," Ryan said.

"Alex Rider, the superspy," Peter said with a laugh. "Good times."

Alex gave the man an uneasy smile. "The stories are mostly exaggerated."

"Have you really gone to outer space?" Peter replied.

Alex paused and then replied, "Well, that one's true."

Hugo sauntered over and glared at Neil and his men. "Back to work."

"Sure thing, Hugo," Neil gave him a lazy salute. "It was a pleasure to meet you men."

"Thanks, you too," Snake replied.

"Nice to meet you, Agent Rider," Peter said before he left.

Alex dropped his head into his hands. "I really wish people would stop doing that."

"What?" Eagle asked.

"Calling me Agent Rider," Alex explained as he lifted his head back up.

Wolf shook his head. "If that's your biggest concern right now you have some serious issues, okay?"

**Richard Crawley POV**

Richard Crawley worked for a government agency that needed to keep secrets. In fact, his job description could be boiled down to a very simply put sentence like: protects the nation's secrets. Sure, the spies and administrators and tech guys who all worked at MI6 were in the secrets business but none as much as Richard Crawley. No, he'd followed his father's footsteps and taken a job of keeping MI6's secrets safe and sometimes that meant going and threatening people who'd chosen to do the stupid thing and draw attention to MI6. Not too long back he'd had to protect a very specific MI6 secret, Alex Rider. Now he was going to have to do it again. This time would require more finesse. In the previous situation he'd been scaring a diving instructor that poked his nose where it didn't belong. Scaring the head of a multi-billion dollar company wasn't going to be quite as easy.

"I need to speak with Mr. Sprintz," Crawley said.

The receptionist nodded. "Do you have an appointment?"

"No, but please tell him that it has to do with the emails he sent out this morning," Crawley said.

"Please have a seat and I'll see if Mr. Sprintz has time to see you this morning," she replied.

Crawley took a seat in comfortable chairs in the waiting room. He observed the receptionist picking up the phone and placing the call. She made a note or two on a paper on her desk and then after a moment she motioned for Crawley to rejoin her at the desk. "Mr. Sprintz will be happy to see you at this time. Please take the elevator over there to the top floor and the receptionist up there will direct you further."

Crawley rode the elevator and hummed casually to the music playing from the speakers. Upon exiting the elevator he was directed by the receptionist as promised to a solid oak door with Mr. James Sprintz on a plaque next to it. He knocked twice and then entered without waiting for an invitation. He was greeted with a smile by the tall blonde haired man behind the desk. Mr. Sprintz didn't bother to stand up but simply motioned for Crawley to take a seat across from him. "Have a seat, sir. Would you like a drink?"

"No thank you, I'm working," Crawley replied.

"How unfortunate, I find that negotiating with the intoxicated is much easier than those of clear wit," Mr. Sprintz said. "But you made a good choice for yourself."

"I get the feeling you know why I'm here," Crawley said. In fact, Crawley got the feeling that Sprintz had known what sending out all those emails was going to cause. Crawley felt uninformed. It was not a good feeling.

"Well, I think you made that very clear when you asked my receptionist to notify me that this meeting was about the emails," Sprintz said. "But maybe that's not what you meant."

"Those emails were about a certain someone that wished to remain anonymous," Crawley said.

"He must not have wanted to remain too anonymous if he didn't change his name," Sprintz said. "But don't worry; my goal is not to blast Mr. Rider's personal information all over the local news tonight."

"Is that so?" Crawley asked. "It certainly didn't appear that way with the thousands of emails that flooded London this morning. You nearly broke our computer techs as they tried to prevent it."

"Oh, you stopped them from reaching the businesses? That's wonderful news. Now I won't have to tell my assistant that he has to send out another set of emails cancelling the request," Sprintz said complete with a sigh of relief. "He might have quit right then and there and good workers are so hard to find nowadays."

"Mr. Sprintz-" Crawley started.

"Call me James," Sprintz interrupted.

Crawley took a deep breath and started again. "Mr. Sprintz, I do not believe you understand the grave mistake you made this morning by attaching the name of a very private individual to several very public businesses."

"Oh no, good sir, I'm understand what I did perfectly. Why, I garnered the attention of one of MI6's finest watchdogs. I tossed a pebble into the water and the fish started moving." For the first time since Crawley had walked into the room Sprintz lost the boyish grin he wore. "I turned on the lights and the cockroaches scattered."

Sprintz continued. "You see, I've discovered some very interesting information. Alex Rider, the man whose privacy you seem so concerned about, has disappeared. He's gone missing. I find that pretty strange, you see, as he went missing from England about seventeen years ago pretty unexpectedly and then only just reappeared here two years ago. I'd hate for our dear friend, Alex Rider, to just end up disappeared for fifteen years again."

"Mr. Rider is a grown man. He can choose to take trips and holidays as he pleases," Crawley replied.

"How about his seven year old son who just didn't show up to school today or his lovely wife who is missing a very important court case? Are they on vacations as well?" Sprintz asked.

Crawley lost composure for only a moment. "They are members of his family."

James Sprintz caught the dropped guard forever. "Did you not know they were gone?"

"It's none of my business," Crawley replied.

James Sprintz laughed softly. "For someone in the intelligence business, I'll bet you feel pretty stupid right about now."

Crawley stood. "You said you had no wish to splash Rider's name anywhere?"

"That's true," Sprintz replied with the smug smile still on his face.

"Keep it that way," Crawley stood. "I don't want to make another trip out here."

"I'll just bet you don't," Sprintz replied.

Once Crawley had left Sprintz called his son out from hiding. "Did you hear everything?"

"Yes, but I don't understand. We didn't learn anything," Kevin replied.

Sprintz laughed. "We learned plenty."

"Like what?" Kevin asked.

Sprintz explained, "The spying world is a lot like the business world. Power can change hands so quietly that no one knows what's happened until it's too late."

"So what?" Kevin asked.

"So, that man didn't have all the information. Someone is making decisions that they don't want everyone to know about," Sprintz said. "And if that's true, Alex Rider might not be aware of the danger he and his family are in."

"What are we going to do about it?" Kevin asked.

"Good question, son. Good questions," Sprintz said.

**AN: Well, there's that. This is the last chapter where things are just waiting to happen. You'll be happy to know that the action is going to start to kick in next chapter. I would love to hear what you thought about the chapter!**


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